Type 1 Diabetes Patients Using Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion Therapy: Feeling Burdened Correlated with Factors.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors related to feelings of being burdened in type 1 diabetes patients using continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) therapy.

METHODS

Participants were 106 subscribers to the Diabetes Network's e-mail newsletter. An online survey was used. Eligible participants were aged at least 20 years, had type 1 diabetes, and were using CSII. Survey questions concerned whether participants found CSII burdensome, and seven potential reasons for feelings of burden. Analysis calculated correlations among participants' demographic and treatment-related factors, and among participants' reasons for feeling CSII to be burdensome.

RESULTS

Regarding demographic and treatment-related factors, gender was found to be weakly negatively correlated with the following variables: employment status, and whether participants had discussed their concerns with a doctor. Employment status was found to be weakly correlated with diabetes duration; employment status and diabetes duration were found to be weakly correlated with age. Regarding reasons for finding CSII therapy burdensome, "It takes too much time" was found to be strongly positively correlated with "It interferes with work responsibilities"; 16 weak positive correlations were also found.

CONCLUSION

To explain our results, we suggest that medical expenses, glycemic control, scheduling outpatient visits around home and work responsibilities, and interacting with medical staff may have caused participants to find CSII therapy burdensome. Most participants had never discussed their treatment concerns with a doctor. This suggests that nurses may be able to mitigate feeling burdened in participants using CSII therapy.