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10-05-2020 | EASD 2020 | News

Clip-on device guides insulin injection site rotation

Author: Eleanor McDermid

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medwireNews: A device that clips onto an insulin pen can guide people with type 1 diabetes to more effectively rotate their injection site, resulting in less lipohypertrophy and glycemic variability, show the results of a proof-of-concept study.

“To our knowledge, this device is the first and currently the only device that can measure the insulin injection site automatically along with the time of injection,” said Rasmus Tjalk-Bøggild (ROTO Health ApS, Birkerød, Denmark) who presented his team’s findings in a poster at the virtual 56th EASD Annual Meeting last week.

Almost all (97.1%) of the 35 study participants (60.0% men, average age 55.4 years) reported that they rotated their insulin injection site, but 8.6% said they had injected into lipohypertrophic areas, which can result in impaired insulin absorption and less stable glucose control. For the first week, the ROTO Track recorded their injection sites but gave no guidance; for the next 12 weeks it guided the participants to use specific injection sites, as indicated by an LED light, with a vibration motor when the device was moved to the recommended location.

The primary endpoint was improvement in a rotation score, based on the location and order of injection sites, and this improved from an average of around 40% during the first week to approximately 50% after 1 week of guided injections, with this improvement maintained through week 12.

Measures of lipohypertrophy improved along with the increased rotation, with significant reductions seen in the number of clinically observed infiltrates and their average area.

Moreover, continuous monitoring data revealed a significant reduction in glycemic variability, with a 3.6 percentage point decrease in the coefficient of variability, despite no change in average glucose levels or time in range.

This “was a proof-of-concept study though,” stressed Tjalk-Bøggild, adding that “future studies are needed to confirm the results in other and larger populations.”

medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Ltd. © 2020 Springer Healthcare Ltd, part of the Springer Nature Group

EASD virtual meeting; 21–25 September 2020

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