Doctors have warned about using insulin pumps on flights, after a patient developed severe hypoglycaemia when her device delivered excess doses midair. 

The 55-year-old with type 1 diabetes experienced hypoglycaemia on two flights in non-pressurised cabins while using the Omnipod DASH device, they wrote in a case report.  

Continuous glucose monitoring data showed her blood glucose levels started to fall about 15 minutes after the aircraft reached cruising altitude. 

During the first flight, the patient’s blood glucose level decreased from 8.9mmol/L to 2.2mmol/L and on the second it decreased from 7.2mmol/L to 2.8mmol/L.