MSU researchers call for an end to daylight saving time to protect people who have diabetes

MSU Today with Russ White

Katie Sullivan has type 1 diabetes and uses an insulin pump. She is also a health care professional. During the last daylight saving time, or DST, change, she accidentally shifted the settings on her pump from a.m. to p.m. and received an incorrect dose of insulin, which caused an unexpected increase in her blood glucose level.

Sullivan developed hyperglycemia because she was not getting enough insulin during the day. Fortunately, she caught the error before going to bed, when the altered insulin dose could have had damaging effects.

Sullivan, a nurse practitioner at the Michigan State University Health Care Endocrinology Clinic, shared her experience with colleagues Saleh Aldasouqi, professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the MSU College of Human Medicine who also practices at MSU Health Care, and Howard Teitelbaum, professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine in the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Together, they authored an article on the difficulties of DST, which was published in Clinical Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.

Conversation Highlights:

(0:54) – Katie introduces herself.

(1:24) – Saleh introduces himself.

(2:20) – What’s potentially dangerous about daylight saving time and insulin pumps?

(4:54) – Katie, talk about how you discovered this issue.

(6:37) – What can happen to a diabetic who doesn’t have the correct time set on their pump?

(9:30) – What should people who use insulin pumps be careful of?

(11:59) – How many people in the country use insulin pumps?

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