Insulin-pen: preliminary report on its use for multiple injection regiment in insulin-dependent diabetic patients.
Insulin pens are pen-like devices for multiple injection of insulin. They can cut down the equipment necessary for a multidose regimen and thus make the therapy more convenient and flexible to help improve daily-life quality. It is of interest for us to known whether the average diabetic patients are motivated to achieve better metabolic control by means of insulin-pens. Seven insulin-dependent diabetic patients (male: 3, female: 4, age: 21-34 years) from the Veterans General Hospital participated in the study. None of them had diabetic proliferative retinopathy or proteinuria. They are initially treated with twice daily injection of mixtures of short- and intermediate-acting insulin (run-in period, 8 weeks). A multi-dose regimen with three premeal injections of short-acting insulin with insulin-pen plus one injection of long-acting insulin at bedtime was then used during the study period (12 weeks). Improved in metabolic control as assessed by HbAlc (7.6 +/- 0.9 vs 6.9 +/- 0.8%) and mean blood glucose (175.2 +/- 34 vs 152.3 +/- 28.1 mg/dl) in all patients was found. The frequency and severity of hypoglycemic episodes were not changed. In addition, all patients chose to continue multiple injection using insulin-pen, indicating a high acceptability of such device.
Kwok
C F
CF
Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, R.O.C.
Jap
T S
TS
Ho
L T
LT
D000328:Adult; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D007328:Insulin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance
D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D007328:Insulin