Need for U40 Insulin

• Published in: JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association Vol. 242; no. 15; p. 1613
• Main Author: Maher, John P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Medical Association 12-10-1979
• Subjects: Aged; Child, Preschool; Diabetes Mellitus - drug therapy; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 - drug therapy; Drug Administration Schedule; Humans; Infant; Insulin - administration & dosage; Insulin - therapeutic use; Middle Aged; Syringes - standards
• ISSN: 0098-7484; 1538-3598
• DOI: 10.1001/jama.1979.03300150019017

To the Editor.—I would like to add my sentiments to the comments made by Rabin (241:1230, 1979) concerning the need for U40 insulin. Not only do the elderly benefit from the "broader gauge" involved, but so do any number of middle-aged patients whose vision has become somewhat clouded, as by early cataract formation.But, in addition to the problems of the elderly and the middle-aged, there is another and sometimes critical use of such low-dose, wide-gauged syringes, ie, in the growing numbers of infant and juvenile diabetics, in whom fractions of units may make the difference between reasonable control on the one hand, and brittle fluctuations between ketosis and hypoglycemia on the other.As the father of one such child myself, I know how important these calibrations can be, particularly in the 1- to 4-year age group, where one sometimes wishes for a truly low-dose syringe that could be