Habits related to the use of insulin infusion set in patients with type 1 diabetes on pump therapy — the effect of the educational intervention

Proper use of insulin infusion sets (IIS) plays an important role in pump therapy of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). We assessed the habits associated with the use of IIS in patients with T1DM treated with insulin pump.This study included 79 T1DM patients who were examined for the presence of lipohypertrophy (LH) and retrained for proper IIS use. They completed a standard questionnaire regarding IIS at the time of study entry and at the follow-up. R e s u l t s: At baseline, most of the patients declared to have been using a plastic cannula (n = 68; 86.1%), changing the infusion set regularly (n = 65; 82.3%), and placing the infusion sets on the abdomen wall (n = 68; 86.1%). The most common rotation habit was the "curve pattern" on both sides of the umbilicus (n = 16; 20.3%). After a median of 23 weeks (IQR 20-34), 58 patients were available for the follow-up. A rise in the proportion of patients who declared to change IIS regularly (n = 48; 82.8% vs. n = 57; 98.3%, p = 0.016), change IIS every 2 to 3 days (n = 27; 46.6% vs. n = 35; 60.3%, p = 0.043), use "crisscross" rotation (n = 5; 8.8% vs. n = 12; 21.4%, p = 0.027) was observed. There were less patients reporting not having repeatable rotation manner (n = 15; 26.3% vs. n = 2; 5.4%, p = 0.009). C o n c l u s i o n s: A substantial proportion of T1DM patients on pump therapy declare that they do not follow the recommended principles of IIS use. The intervention consisting of LH assessment and retrain- ing of proper use of IIS might be effective in improving patient compliance.