Knowledge of Insulin Practices in Adult Diabetic Patients: A Cross- Sectional Survey-Based Study in a Specialized Diabetic Center of a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Insulin is being used in addition to oral hypoglycemic drugs in certain diabetic population while it is the only treatment in insulin deficient patients. There is little knowledge about the various aspects of the self-administration of the insulin so this study is planned.

Materials and Methods: Patients who have been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus irrespective of the type of diabetes with either gender and of any age were taken in this research. Study sample included patients who were not on any alternative medicine and psychotic medicine. All the participants were using insulin for more than 6 months. After taking informed consent, patients were interviewed through a validated English language version of the Injection Technique Questionnaire (ITQ) which is available via the Fitter diabetes website and previously used in many studies. Questionnaire was asked and filled by a person who was expert in English as well as common local languages. The questionnaire covered all the aspects regarding knowledge about insulin injection technique. The data was then stratified according to the age group, gender distribution, duration of diabetes, duration of insulin use, habits of self-monitoring blood glucose, habits of waste disposal and family support regarding insulin use. Data was analyzed using SPSS 24 Inc.

Results: Almost all the cases were adult 350(96.2%), 11(3%) were self-injected adolescents and 2(0.6%) were self-injecting child above 10 years of age. On inquiring the duration of diabetes mellitus, >5-year older DM was in 239(65.7%), 1–5- year older DM in 109(29.9%) and 13(3.6%) have diabetes of <1 year older. Mean duration of the months since diagnosis was 96 ± 64.77 months. Most of the cases were taking oral hypoglycemic drugs along with insulin 248(68.1%), and 114(31.3%) were taking only insulin. Insulin was taken with syringe by 334(91.8%), while 29(8%) patients were using insulin pen. Mean number of injections taken was 2.45 ± 0.83 per day. 178(48.9%) tries to remove bubbles. 289(79.4%) reported that more training is needed for better injection technique. 292(80.2%) stated that they require more training to dispose syringe.

Conclusion: More training is needed to the diabetic patients for the proper administration of insulin and disposal of the waste.