Continuous insulin infusions in neonates: pharmacologic availability of insulin in intravenous solutions

Continuous insulin infusion is sometimes used in very low birth weight infants with glucose intolerance. We studied the availability of insulin to the neonate by means of a laboratory-simulated clinical infusion under both flushed and non-flushed conditions. Although loss of insulin was noted with both solutions (0.5 U/ml), under the nonflushed condition only 55.9% of the prescribed dose for the first 2 hours was delivered before the delivery rate of the flushed system, 71.4%, was approached. These findings have implications for neonatal insulin administration.