Survey on Self-management of Diabetes by Patients

—With Major Purpose to Determine Usage of Insulin Preparations when Eating out—

Abstract

We conducted a survey of diabetic patients in order to ascertain how they managed their use of insulin preparations in daily life with the focus on usage of insulin preparations when eating out and glycemic control. The subjects were 19 male and 16 female outpatients receiving insulin therapy at the Nijigaoka Hospital. Their average age was 62.3, they had an average clinical history of 15.3 years, and a history of treatment with insulin averaging 9.5 years. Among the patients who ate out frequently, 3 did so every day, 2 did so 4-6 times per week, and 3 did so 1-3 times per week. One of these patients injected insulin after eating and another did not inject insulin when eating out. Through our survey we discovered the importance of each patient obtaining information individually. Also since self-management of insulin use was not discussed during group counseling for diabetics, we felt that it was necessary to explore the use of individual counseling to instruct them on this subject. It is thus necessary to make questionnaire sheets to ascertain individual patient's living conditions and tailor insulin treatment counseling to individual lifestyles rather than providing generalized counseling.