Associations between use of diabetes technology and diabetes distress: a Danish cross-sectional survey of adults with type 1 diabetes

Abstract

Introduction The study aimed to investigate independent and combined associations between insulin delivery method (insulin pump therapy (IPT) vs multiple daily injections (MDI)), glucose monitoring method (intermittently scanned continuous glucose monitoring (isCGM) and real-time continuous glucose monitoring (rtCGM) vs blood glucose metre (BGM)) and diabetes distress (DD) in adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D).Research design and methods We combined data from two Danish questionnaire-based surveys, the Steno Tech Survey (n=1591) and the Type 1 Diabetes Distress Scale (T1-DDS) validation survey (n=4205), in which individuals aged ≥18 years with T1D were invited to participate. The 28-item T1-DDS was used to measure DD and DD scores were categorised as little or no distress (score <2.0), moderate distress (2.0–2.9) and high distress (score ≥3.0). Associations between insulin delivery, glucose monitoring methods and DD were assessed using linear regression.Results Among 2068 adults with T1D who responded to one of the surveys, the use of IPT was associated with a lower total T1-DDS score (−0.09, 95% CI 0.16 to −0.03) compared with MDI and adjusted for glucose monitoring method. The use of CGM was associated with a higher total T1-DDS score (0.11, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.18) compared with BGM and adjusted for the insulin delivery method. IPT was still associated with a lower T1-DDS score, regardless of being combined with BGM (−0.17, 95% CI −0.28 to −0.06) or CGM (−0.13, 95% CI −0.21 to −0.05), compared with MDI with CGM. No association was found between the type of CGM (isCGM vs rtCGM) and DD among either IPT or MDI users when restricting analysis to individuals using CGM.Conclusions Among Danish adults with T1D, the use of IPT was associated with lower levels of DD, while CGM use was associated with higher levels of DD. DD should be addressed when introducing people with T1D to diabetes technology, CGM in particular.Trial registration number NCT04311164 (Results).