Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: To determine the impact on quality of life and metabolic control of insulin pump therapy in a cohort of young people in south London.

Methods: Seventeen children and young people with type 1 diabetes aged 5–17 undergoing assessment for pump therapy were routinely seen by a clinical psychologist as part of their assessment. The majority were aged 13–17. Measures quantifying quality of life (PEDS-QL generic and diabetes specific modules) were administered to both parent and child, prior to and six months following commencement of pump therapy. The two London boroughs in which the hospitals are situated have high levels of socio-economic deprivation, both are in the top 5% areas of deprivation in England (Lesser 2010).

Results: Parents and children reported an increase in quality of life post pump in both the diabetes specific and generic measures (mean score on the diabetes module for parents: 364–392; for young people: 381–400). Correlational analyses showed a statistically significant increase in quality of life for parents on the diabetes specific measure (r=0.647, P=0.005). HbA1c results showed a statistically significant improvement pre to post pump from a mean of 9.12–8.33 (t=3.63, P=0.002), with a pre pump range of 13.2–7.0 reducing to 10.3–6.5 post pump.

Conclusions: Initial findings here suggest that insulin pump therapy improves both young person and parent rated quality of life. This is important and highly valued by families and young people themselves. In addition, overall blood glucose control significantly improved. These findings are particularly pertinent in the context of the high levels of socio-economic deprivation in this area. This cohort of young people has been shown to be particularly hard to reach and often have high Hba1c. It is very encouraging that insulin pump therapy has been seen to be successful here.