Patient-Reported Preference and Clinical Efficacy of Insulin Pen Devices With Safety Needles in Adolescents and Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: A Prospective Study

Purpose Current evidence indicates that diabetic patients' preference and medication adherence can be affected by the type of insulin pen needles. We aimed to assess the impact of insulin pen devices with safety needles (SPN) on the usability, behavioral, lifestyle, and emotional aspects of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in adolescents and young adults. Patients and methods We conducted a prospective single-center study on adolescent T1DM patients treated with multiple insulin doses using basal-bolus therapy for at least one year. Patients were followed for 12 weeks to compare the changes in the baseline usability and insulin fear of self-injection scales between SPN and conventional needles. Results In this 12-week study, we included 72 participants with a mean age of 15.5 ± 1.3 years. The mean disease duration was 5.1 ± 2.2 years. At 12 weeks, substantial improvement was evident in the SPN group, compared to the conventional group, in terms of the overall satisfaction score with a mean difference (MD) of 4.1 ± 1.9 (p < 0.01). Participants in the SPN group reported significant reduction in all aspect of fear from self-injection, such as being restless (MD = -1.4 ± 0.9), tense (MD = -1.8 ± 0.9), afraid (MD = -1.9 ± 0.9), worried (MD = -1.9 ± 0.9), nervous (MD = -1.7 ± 0.9), and brood using the SPN needles (MD = -1.6 ± 0.9), as compared to the conventional needles group. The glycemic control parameters, as determined by HbA1c and fasting blood glucose, exhibited significant improvements in the SPN group compared to the conventional group (p < 0.05). Conclusion SPN significantly improved usability, glycemic parameters, and reduced the fear of insulin self-injections amongst T1DM patients compared to conventional pen therapy.