Despite the established benefits of diabetes camps for the continuing education of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus, little is known about the long-term metabolic benefits of diabetes camps for middle-aged and elderly people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), especially in terms of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) variability.
The 1-year mean and variability of HbA1c before and after the diabetes camp was compared between the participants of the diabetes camp (
The levels of HbA1c during the first year after the diabetes camp were comparable to those of the matched controls (
The 1-year mean and SD of HbA1c decreased after the diabetes camp, with significant reduction in the adjusted SD and CV in those with higher baseline HbA1c and a shorter duration of diabetes.
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Longer needle and complicated insulin injection technique such as injecting at a 45-degree angle and making skinfolds may decrease patient compliance to insulin injection therapy. In this light, shorter insulin needles have been recently developed. However, it is necessary to ascertain that such shorter needles are appropriate for Korean patients with diabetes as well.
First, the diverse demographic and diabetic features of 156 Korean adults with diabetes were collected by a questionnaire and a device unit of body fat measurement. The skin and subcutaneous fat thicknesses of each subject were measured by Ultrasound device with a 7- to 12-MHz probe. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and multiple linear regression.
The mean skin thickness was 2.29±0.37 mm in the abdomen and 2.00±0.34 mm in the upper arms, and the mean subcutaneous fat thickness was to 10.15±6.54 mm in the abdomen and 5.50±2.68 mm in the upper arms. Our analysis showed that the factors affecting the skin thickness of the abdomen and upper arms were gender and body mass index (BMI), whereas the factors influencing the subcutaneous fat thickness in the abdomen were gender and BMI, and the factors influencing the subcutaneous fat thickness in the upper arms were gender, BMI, and age. Insulin fluids may not appear to be intradermally injected into the abdomen and upper arms at any needle lengths. The risk of intramuscular injection is likely to increase with longer insulin needles and lower BMI.
It is recommended to fully inform the patients about the lengths of needles for insulin injections. As for the recommended needle length, the findings of this study indicate that needles as short as 4 mm are sufficient to deliver insulin for Korean patients with diabetes.
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