SUBCUTANEOUS OR INTRAMUSCULAR INJECTIONS OF INSULIN IN CHILDREN

OBJECTIVE - This study was designed to assess the insulin injection lo cation in a group of children who had their injection according to the ir daily practice, thought to lead to subcutaneous injections. RESEARC H DESIGN AND METHODS - The location of the insulin deposit at the inje ction site was visualized using an ultrasound device. RESULTS - The ex act insulin injection location could be localized, and 18 of 59 inject ions (30.5%) (one injection for each child) were in the intramuscular tissue. Of the children who had intramuscular injection, 15 of 18 were boys. The children who had an intramuscular injection had a significa ntly lower percentile of BMI (mean +/- SE: 47 +/- 8 vs. 72 +/- 4, P = 0.004), lower distance from skin surface to muscle fascia without a sk infold (5.6 +/- 0.6 vs. 11 +/- 0.7 mm, P < 0.0001), and a lower distan ce from skin surface to muscle fascia with a skinfold (8.1 +/- 0.9 vs. 15.9 +/- 0.8 mm, P < 0.0001) than children who had a subcutaneous ins ulin injection. CONCLUSIONS - We identified a group of children at ris k for intramuscular insulin injections and that may deserve specific i njection technique and advice.