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By Robert Preidt
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Oct. 9, 2018 (HealthDay News) – Many diabetic patients keep their insulin at the wrong temperature in their refrigerator, which could reduce its effectiveness, a new study said.
Insulin should be stored in a refrigerator between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius (36 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit) and between 2 and 30 degrees C (30 and 86 degrees F) when worn by the patient in a pen or a vial, the researchers said.
Although diabetic patients often store insulin in their home refrigerator for several months before using it, little is known about its impact on the quality of insulin, the researchers said.
This study included 388 diabetic patients in the United States and Europe who had placed temperature sensors next to their insulin in the refrigerator and / or their bag for diabetes. The sensors measured the temperature every three minutes (up to 480 times per day) and the data were collected on average for 49 days.
An analysis of 400 temperature registers (230 for insulin refrigerated and 170 for insulin transported) showed that 315 (79%) had deviations from the recommended temperature ranges.
On average, the insulin stored in the refrigerator was outside the recommended temperature range 11 percent of the time (ie 2 hours and 34 minutes a day), while the insulin carried by the patients n & # 39; 39, was out of the recommendations only for about 8 minutes a day.
Freezing was an even bigger problem, with 66 sensors (17%) recording temperatures below 32 ° F (0 ° C), equivalent to an average of 3 hours per month, according to the study. .
The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, which ended on October 5 in Berlin. Such research is considered preliminary until it is published in a peer-reviewed journal.
"Many people with diabetes unconsciously store their insulin because of temperature fluctuations in household refrigerators," said study author, Katarina Braune, who works for Charite – Universitaetsmedizin Berlin in Germany.
"When you store your insulin in the refrigerator at home, always use a thermometer to check the temperature," she said in a press release. "It is known that the long-term storage conditions of insulin have an impact on its lowering effect of blood sugar."
"Further research is needed to examine how temperature differences during household storage affect the effectiveness of insulin and patient outcomes," she concluded.
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