Detemir vs NPH Insulin: Glycemic Control in Pregnant Women with Diabetes

The experimental method will be a randomized controlled trial performed at Roosevelt Hospital in our Diabetes in Pregnancy Program (DIPP). Perinatologists managing the patient in DIPP determine when patients need further treatment with medical therapy. Patients undergoing care at DIPP may require medical intervention in the following clinical scenarios: failure of diet alone to control glycemic indices and grossly abnormal glucose tolerance screening test results suggesting disease of such severity that diet alone would not be sufficient. After verbally counseling the patient, she will be recruited for the study by the investigators. An extensive explanation of the objectives of the study will be presented to the patient, as well as written copies of the protocol and consent. After informed consent is given, patients will be randomized to management with either insulin NPH or detemir together with rapid acting insulin aspart (Novolog) with meals, as necessary. The primary outcome will be level of glycemic control defined as overall mean blood glucose in pregnancy. This is a well established measure of overall glycemic control that has been used in numerous publications in the obstetric literature on diabetes in pregnancy. Participants will be followed until they deliver, with an expected range of 6-16 weeks depending on when the patient was enrolled in the study. The mean glucose will be determined by the sum of average glucose at each visit divided by the number of visits).