Introduction
Hyperglycemia is common in critically ill patients and is a modifiable risk factor that increases morbidity and mortality [1-4]. For many years, optimal treatment of hyperglycemia has been discussed in intensive care units [5]. The American Clinical Endocrinologists Association and the American Diabetes Association recommend keeping glucose levels between 140-180 mg/dL for glycemic control in critically ill patients [6,7]. In critically ill patients, continuous iv insulin infusion has been shown to be the best route to achieve glycemic targets and prevent glycemic fluctuations [7]. Clinical application of insulin infusion therapy is usually accomplished with regular human insulin [2,8]. It is known that the regular insulin adsorbed to the surfaces of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bags and infusion sets, which are generally used in hospitals, and not to the polypropylene (PP) surfaces. However, there are different data about the adsorption rates in the literature [9-16]. Therefore different approaches were implemented into the clinical practices, such as changing the bag every 4 or 12 hours, to minimize the adsorption of insulin to the bag during the infusion [17-19].
In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the rate of adhesion of insulin solutions to PP bags and PVC infusion sets and stability times at room temperature (+24° C) during the infusion.