- Nasim C Sobhani: Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. ORCID
The mainstay of type 1 diabetes (T1D) management in pregnancy is optimization of glucose levels in a tight range. Achieving euglycemia has been revolutionized by advances in diabetes technology, including the development of automated insulin delivery (AID) systems. A small but growing population of gravidas with T1D elects to pursue off-label use of AID systems in pregnancy, and their outcomes have been described in numerous observational cohorts. This review aims to aggregate data from all available observational studies examining glycemic, maternal, and neonatal outcomes associated with antenatal AID use. A total of 243 pregnancies managed antenatally with AID were described in 24 publications, with largely reassuring outcomes data. Time in range (TIR) with commercial AID systems was generally acceptable, with many patients reaching pregnancy target TIR > 70% by the third trimester. Time in range with open-source AID systems appeared even higher, although with the potential tradeoff of worse time below range (TBR). Clinically, there do not appear to be major differences in pregnancy outcomes between AID systems and other methods of insulin delivery, although this assumption is based largely on indirect comparisons with other population-level reports rather than direct comparisons within analytic observational cohorts. Clinical outcomes appear superior with open-source AID compared with commercial AID, although this should be interpreted with caution based on the small sample size of this subpopulation (n = 16) and potential confounding. The real-world evidence generated by these observational studies provides invaluable information for patients and providers seeking to improve outcomes for gravidas with T1D.