Characteristics of people with type 1 diabetes who use technology in their treatment and who use frequently the technical assistance teleconsultation service

Introduction: Technical issues related to continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII), associated or not with continuous glucose monitoring (SAP), are handled by tele-technical assistance from the manufacturer. We analyze the characteristics of the most demanding patients of technical teleassistance.

Material and methods: Patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in treatment with CSII or SAP, who made use of technical teleassistance from 01/01/2017 to 02/28/2021 (2298 consultations) were included. We selected the group of patients who made ≥10 calls (90th percentile, P90) and the one who made a single call (10th percentile, P10). The number and most frequent reasons for consultation, clinical characteristics and HbA_1c were collected and both groups were compared.

Results: 51 patients (P90) made a total of 876 calls (38.1% of calls), 32 used SAP. The most frequent reason for consultation was related to continuous glucose monitoring (36.8%). 51 (P10) made 51 calls (2.2%), 3 used SAP. The most frequent reason for consultation was related to device damage (25.5%). The most demanding patients used SAP more frequently (62.7 vs. 5.9%, P < .001), had been in advanced treatment for less time (7.1 ± 5.5 vs. 12.1 ± 6.2 years, P < .001) and their HbA_1c was lower (7.2 ± 0.9 vs 7.6 ± 0.8%).

Conclusions: Most of the calls to the technical teleassistance service for ISCI/SAP devices come from a more demanding group of people with T1D. The greatest demand is concentrated in patients who use SAP, with a shorter time of use of advanced therapy and a better degree of glucose control.