Question

A 187 lb patient is starting on subcutaneous injections of insulin lispro for management of uncontrolled diabetes. The patient is prescribed to receive a total daily dose of 0.8 U/kg/day divided into two equivalent doses per day. Each injection should be administered 5 minutes before a meal (the patient eats two meals per day). How much insulin lispro (U-100) should be injected for each individual dose? Note: Please provide your answer in units of volume (mL).

Answer 1

Given,

Weight of the patient = 187 lb = 84.822 kg [1 lb = 0.454 kg]

Total daily dose = 0.8 U/kg/day

The total daily dose is divided into two equivalent doses per day. So

Two equivalent doses per day = 0.4 U/kg

That means,

1 kg patient requires = 0.4 U of dose in each individual dose

84.822 kg patient requires = 0.4x84.822 = 33.93 U of dose in each individual dose

In Lispro (U-100), U-100 signify that the solution contains 100 units per ml of dose.

Hence,

100 U of dose = 1 ml

1 U of dose = 1/100 = 0.01 ml

33.93 U of dose = 0.01x33.93 = 0.3393 = 0.34 ml

So, 0.34 ml of insulin lispro (U-100) should be injected for each individual dose to the patient.