Adherence to good practice recommendations for insulin therapy: relation with glycemic control

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the relation between adherence levels to good practice recommendations for insulin therapy and glycemic control metrics in patients with diabetes mellitus. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional, quantitative study was conducted with 102 patients with diabetes mellitus. Data were collected by means of semi structured interviews and complemented by information obtained from medical records. Participants answered four collection instruments: I) a sociodemographic and clinical characterization form, II) a reminder of insulin therapy guidelines, III) a capillary blood glucose self-monitoring record sheet and IV) a record form of glycemic control assessment metrics. Results: Results showed a statistically significant association between non-adherence level (100%) to insulin therapy recommendations with estimated time on target ≤ 70% and between non-adherence (80%) and standard deviation ≥ 50 mg/dl. Conclusion: These findings corroborate that non adherence to good insulin therapy recommendations contribute to a lack of glycemic control.