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Beliefs of Caribbean type 2 diabetes patients towards insulin therapy and prescription

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International Journal of Diabetes in Developing Countries Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background and aim

Previous research studies have shown that poorly controlled type 2 diabetes patients do not receive insulin therapy because of the resistance of the patients to insulin therapy. This study aimed to assess the belief of Caribbean insulin-naïve type 2 diabetes patients on insulin therapy.

Methods

Five hundred ten insulin-naïve type 2 diabetes patients who have had diabetes for at least 5 years were recruited for a questionnaire interview. The questionnaire was a modified version of a previously validated research questionnaire. Data collected was analysed with SPSS software using chi-square to test for significances.

Results

The majority of the patients have had diabetes for > 10 years and take > 2 different diabetes medications daily. About 67% and 81% of the patients do not believe that insulin therapy will cause them hypoglycemia and weight gain respectively. Similarly, a significant percentage does not believe that taking insulin will interfere with their normal lifestyle activities (72.2%, p = 0.048). Although a majority (64%) of the patients believe that taking insulin translates to personal failure in optimal blood glucose control, 90% do not believe that taking insulin will cause people to treat them differently. A majority of the patients do not believe that taking insulin will be helpful in preventing long-term diabetes complications (63.9%, p = 0.001), though 51% thought it would make them feel better.

Conclusion

Contrary to several reports, this study shows that insulin-naïve Caribbean type 2 diabetes patients do not have a significant negative perception towards insulin therapy. This finding might be related to the socio-cultural background of the patients studied.

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Acknowledgment

We are grateful to the Chief Executive Officers of North-West, North-Central and Eastern Regional Health Authorities for the permission to conduct this study within their Regional Health Authorities. We thank the patients for their time in completing the questionnaire interviews.

Funding

This study was sponsored through the University of the West Indies Research and Publication Fund grant to the authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Para-Clinical Sciences, The Diabetes and Metabolism Research Group [DMRG], Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

    Chidum E. Ezenwaka, Philip Onuoha, Rian Extavour & Safiya Yearwood

Authors
  1. Chidum E. Ezenwaka
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  2. Philip Onuoha
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  3. Rian Extavour
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  4. Safiya Yearwood
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Contributions

CEE: contributed in the concept, design, data analysis, data acquisition, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation and writing

PO: design, data analysis, data acquisition, manuscript preparation and review

SY: design, data acquisition, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation and review

RE: design, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation and review

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chidum E. Ezenwaka.

Ethics declarations

The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the University of the West Indies Ethics Review Committee.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Ezenwaka, C.E., Onuoha, P., Extavour, R. et al. Beliefs of Caribbean type 2 diabetes patients towards insulin therapy and prescription. Int J Diabetes Dev Ctries 40, 442–448 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-020-00808-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-020-00808-5

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