Analysis of variance applied to blood glucose values for assessing insulin preparations and state of lability in diabetes.

Abstract

A method for numerical evaluation of the quality of blood glucose control in diabetes mellitus is presented. Blood glucose values were obtained 4–9 times daily during periods of 5 days. By analysis of variance estimates were obtained for 1. Blood glucose variations during the day, used as a parameter for assessment of the efficiency of a given insulin preparation in an individual patient, and also for comparison of different insulin preparations in a group of patients. — 2. The variation of the mean blood glucose levels from day to day, influenced a.o. by the lability of the diabetes. — 3. The constancy of the pattern of the blood glucose curves during different days, influenced by the lability of the disease. The two latter factors were combined to give a parameter which under controlled conditions may be used for classification of the lability of diabetes. — The method is exemplified by application to different types of diabetes disease and treatment. Pour insulin preparations were compared in a group of patients. A change of insulin in several cases caused fairly great changes in the parameter measuring the efficiency of the insulin preparation. The parameter measuring lability of diabetes showed a characteristic level for each patient, with only small changes throughout the experimental periods. — In our experience, the present method has proved to be useful and has the advantage of being derived from a well defined statistical analysis.