STYLCONNECT Study: An Assessment of Automatic Data Collection Devices by People Living with Diabetes and Using an Insulin Pen

Abstract

Introduction: The use of devices to connect insulin pens could facilitate management and improve glycaemic control in people with type 1 (PwT1D) and type 2 diabetes (PwT2D). However, their acceptance seems little studied. We conducted an online survey with the main objective of assessing the level of interest among insulin-treated people with diabetes (PwD) in a device connected to a disposable pen and secondary objectives of assessing the perceived benefits and important features expected of a connected device and identifying factors associated with interest scores.

Methods: An ad-hoc questionnaire, validated by PwD, was used. Responses from 1798 PwD (975 PwT1D and 823 PwT2D) were analysed.

Results: The mean interest rating was 7.4/10 (PwT1D: 7.2 vs PwT2D: 7.7; p < 0.001). PwD perceived that the device would make it easier to record their diabetes-related information (7.7/10) and keep all insulin and diabetes data in a single location (7.7/10). It was particularly important for PwD that this type of device could integrate data from glucose-measuring devices (7.8/10) and could set an alarm when all insulin in the body had been metabolised (7.7/10).

Conclusion: Our study highlighted PwD's strong interest in automating the collection of their insulin therapy data, with significantly more interest among PwT2D than PwT1D, and the importance of interoperability between glucose measurement devices and interchangeability between the different brands of insulin. More generally, for the first time and on a large scale, our study provided a greater understanding of the expectations of PwD regarding these devices.

Keywords: Connected medicine; Connected pen; Diabetes management; Insulin; Type 1 diabetes; Type 2 diabetes.

Fig. 1

Boxplot of the interest score on the left and breakdown of the interest score on the right, according to type of diabetes. N, PwT1D = 975; N, PwT2D = 823. ***p < 0.001. PwT1D people with T1D, PwT2D people with T2D, T1D type 1 diabetes, T2D type 2 diabetes

Fig. 2

Linear regression (standardised coefficients) to assess the contribution of several variables to the interest score for the connected device. N = 1781; R² = 0.117, p < 0.0001. *p < 0.05. The absolute values of the standardized regression coefficients may be compared, giving a rough indication of the relative importance of the variables. This varies between − 1 and + 1 where − 1 indicates a total negative association, 0 an absence of association and + 1 a total positive association