Do you skip jabs?

A third of people with diabetes are not taking their mealtime insulin treatment as recommended by NICE according to a new survey of 200 people living with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes who need mealtime insulin to control their blood glucose levels. This can lead to unpleasant mental and physical symptoms (like blurred vision and tiredness) and puts them at risk of serious long-term complications.

Dr Lalantha Leelarathna

Dr Lalantha Leelarathna, Consultant Diabetologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at Manchester Diabetes Centre, Manchester Royal Infirmary, added, ‘The fact that many patients don’t discuss their symptoms with their healthcare team suggests that we as clinicians need to be more proactive in asking about hyperglycaemia and better educate our patients on the importance of good mealtime control. In addition, we need to provide our patients with treatment strategies to achieve good post-meal glucose control. Missing or delayed meal time insulin will often lead to very high post-meal glucose levels increasing glucose variability and the risk of complications. Greater awareness is our best defense against diabetes-relate complications and I welcome these latest survey results as an opportunity to highlight these important issues.’

An online survey of 200 people living with diabetes in the UK was undertaken in October, 2016. All respondents were aged 18 years of age or older and were all on basal-bolus treatment regimen. Half of the participants were living with Type 1 diabetes and half were living with Type 2 diabetes. The aim of this survey was to gain insights into how people living the condition manage it, particularly in relation to mealtime management of diabetes with bolus therapy.

www.novonordisk.co.uk


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