Objective: To investigate the impact of insulin lispro on patients' quality of life (QOL) in diabetic patients who need insulin treatment.
Methods: In this open-label, 12-week study 770 diabetic patients whose medications were switched to insulin lispro from human insulin were evaluated. Main outcome measures were compliance with insulin injection timing, HbA(1c), postprandial blood glucose, frequency and time of onset of hypoglycemia, and QOL measurements.
Results: After switching to insulin lispro, approximately 95% of patients "Always" or "Usually" complied with the timing of insulin injections as instructed by their physician. HbA(1c) was improved from 8.2 to 7.8% without increasing the number of hypoglycemic episodes. In terms of QOL, statistically significant improvements were observed in the insulin-therapy-related QOL measure questionnaire (ITR-QOL) total score. Statistically significant correlations were found between compliance with insulin injection timing and glycemic control, as well as glycemic control and QOL.
Conclusion: The improvement in patient convenience obtained by switching to insulin lispro provided better compliance with insulin injection timing, and this in turn led to better glycemic control and improved QOL. Especially, a better QOL was seen to be clearly related with better glycemic control.