Issue of Adjustment to Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion Devices

Introduction: Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion with an insulin pump provides best practice for prevention of tertiary complications of insulin-dependent diabetes. Purpose: The aim of the study was to identify self-care adjustment issues to pump technology via a computer-based survey. Method: Internal reliability of the Adaptation to Insulin Pumps Survey was 0.765 (Cronbach’s alpha). The validated survey was emailed to a convenience sample of 10,000 users. Logistic regression analysis was done on each binary variable, testing for Group effect, while controlling for age and gender. Results: There were 959 responders. Seventeen survey statements relating to barriers, intrusiveness, attitude, and adaptations had significance from p< 0.0001 to p< 0.05. Conclusions: Ninety-four percent of calculated p values of statements were higher for woman than men. Odds ratio estimates suggested that women may have higher risk for discontinuance of the biomedical device than men. Future research should identify women at risk and clarify the roles of different healthcare practitioners in addressing the self-care adjustment issues of women.