19.02.2020 | Original article
Beliefs of Caribbean type 2 diabetes patients towards insulin therapy and prescription
Erschienen in: International Journal of Diabetes in Developing Countries | Ausgabe 3/2020
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Background and aim
Previous research studies have shown that poorly controlled type 2 diabetes patients do not receive insulin therapy because of the resistance of the patients to insulin therapy. This study aimed to assess the belief of Caribbean insulin-naïve type 2 diabetes patients on insulin therapy.
Methods
Five hundred ten insulin-naïve type 2 diabetes patients who have had diabetes for at least 5 years were recruited for a questionnaire interview. The questionnaire was a modified version of a previously validated research questionnaire. Data collected was analysed with SPSS software using chi-square to test for significances.
Results
The majority of the patients have had diabetes for > 10 years and take > 2 different diabetes medications daily. About 67% and 81% of the patients do not believe that insulin therapy will cause them hypoglycemia and weight gain respectively. Similarly, a significant percentage does not believe that taking insulin will interfere with their normal lifestyle activities (72.2%, p = 0.048). Although a majority (64%) of the patients believe that taking insulin translates to personal failure in optimal blood glucose control, 90% do not believe that taking insulin will cause people to treat them differently. A majority of the patients do not believe that taking insulin will be helpful in preventing long-term diabetes complications (63.9%, p = 0.001), though 51% thought it would make them feel better.
Conclusion
Contrary to several reports, this study shows that insulin-naïve Caribbean type 2 diabetes patients do not have a significant negative perception towards insulin therapy. This finding might be related to the socio-cultural background of the patients studied.
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