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Insulin Pen May Improve Diabetes Outcomes

(HealthCentersOnline) - Using an insulin pen instead of syringe injections may improve compliance and reduce diabetic emergencies, new research suggests.

All people with type 1 diabetes and some people with type 2 and other forms of diabetes must take supplements of insulin, a hormone needed to process glucose (blood sugar) for energy. The most common method of insulin administration is injections using needle-tipped syringes and vials of insulin.

Another injection option is insulin pens, which have short needles and prefilled cartridges or chambers in a single device. Insulin pens are generally less uncomfortable and easier to use but more expensive short-term than syringe injections. They have been more popular in some countries than in the United States.

Scientists with a U.S. corporate research firm and a pharmaceutical company conducted what they described as the first study to compare medical and economic outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes who switched from syringe injections to insulin pens. They reviewed a healthcare claims database covering more than 40 million people to identify 1,156 adult patients fitting that description.

Their 18-month analysis of these patients who converted to insulin pens indicated that the proportion who complied with their physician-prescribed treatment plan rose from 36 percent to 55 percent. Also, episodes of low glucose, known as hypoglycemia, declined, including a decrease by up to two-thirds in patients who followed their treatment plan at least 80 percent of the time.

Emergency hospital visits due to hypoglycemia declined, with an annual savings of $788 a patient, and total annual savings in treatment costs were $1,590 a patient.

The researchers concluded that switching from insulin syringe injections to insulin pens could improve patient compliance, reduce hypoglycemia and yield long-term savings.

The study was published this month in Clinical Therapeutics.

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