Manufacturers should design insulin pumps with features that can be safely and easily accessed by people with severe vision loss to avoid serious health consequences, according to a new review.
A review performed by nurse practitioner Lorraine Marom from the Diabetes Unit at Dandenong Hospital, Victoria, found that the suitability of insulin pumps for people with type I diabetes who have visual impairment is poor.
“Insulin pumps currently available do not have speech output, user guides are not in Braille, there is no accessible diabetes software for personal computers and only one pump has good visual display characteristics,” the researchers wrote in Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.
The review noted a case history of a 23-year-old woman with type I diabetes and diabetic retinopathy in both eyes.
She was on a continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion due to multiple admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Her diabetes was controlled on the insulin pump but, due to her poor vision, she was put back on multiple daily injections until after ocular procedures, resulting in readmission for DKA.
She resumed using the pump and after three weeks was readmitted for DKA because the batteries on her pump failed and she was unaware the infusion had stopped.
“As diabetic retinopathy is the most common microvascular diabetes complication and diabetes is a common cause of vision loss, pump companies should design insulin pumps with features that can be used by visually impaired or blind people,” the review concluded.
Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice 2010 published online ahead of print
About Greg Baxter
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