New Recommendations for Checking Blood Glucose for Cystic Fibrosis Patients

As part of an effort to improve care for patients with cystic fibrosis, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation recommends that people on overnight tube feeding check their blood sugar. Andrea Kelly, MD, and Ronald Rubenstein, MD, PhD, are leading a quality improvement project at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to encourage families to follow these recommendations. You can participate in this project at no cost to you.

If your child is receiving overnight supplemental feeds through a gastrostomy tube (G-tube), we recommend that you check their blood sugars two hours into the overnight feeding and again at the end of the feeding.

Your goal should be to do this four times a year, before each scheduled visit with the Cystic Fibrosis Center. (Ideally, you will be seeing us four times a year!)

If you don’t have a glucometer or other necessary supplies, please call us at 215-590-3749 and ask to speak with one of our nurses. They will submit the appropriate prescriptions.

After you have obtained your child’s blood glucose numbers, please submit them to us by sending us a message via MyCHOP or call our nurses at 215-590-3749.

If your child’s numbers are too high, you will be referred to a physician.

NOTE: If your child has already been diagnosed with CF-related diabetes, these guidelines may not apply.