| Patient Benefits | Helping to achieve HbA1c targets | Minimise unexplained hypoglycaemia | Lower risk of Glycaemic variation | Injection comfort and adherence |
Could injection comfort improve diabetes adherence and outcomes?
The 2014-15 ITQ survey (presented at FITTER) showed that just over half of injectors report having pain on injection. Of these, 4 out of 5 report having painful injections only several times a month or year (i.e. not with every injection). Groups with higher frequency of reported pain are: T1DM patients, children, adolescents and women. Pain is associated with several other disorders, without obvious causative relationship: bleeding, injecting through clothes, using cold insulin, skipping injections, hypo- and hyperglycemia, lipohypertrophy (LH), injecting into LH, incorrect site rotation, higher HbA1C, lower body mass index (BMI), younger age and higher total daily dose (TDD). Pain is also associated with needle reuse and seems to increase as a function of the number of times the needle is reused.1
Aronson R: The Role of Comfort and Discomfort in Insulin Therapy. Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, Volume 14, Number 8, 2012
References
- 1Frid AH, Hirsch LJ, Menchior AR, Morel DR, Strauss KW. Worldwide Injection Technique Questionnaire Study: Injecting Complications and the Role of the Professional. Mayo Clin Proc. September 2016; 91(9):1224-1230.
