Travel health practices, behaviours and experiences of people living with type 1 diabetes

Introduction: There are limited data regarding the international travel history and preparation, as well as glycaemic control practices, risk behaviours and experiences of people with type 1 diabetes during travel. Our review aimed to address the research question: 'What are the health practices, behaviours and experiences of people with type 1 diabetes when travelling?'

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods narrative review using adapted review methods from the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination and standards developed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis. MEDLINE, Scopus, PubMed and CINAHL, and the reference lists of all eligible studies were searched.

Results: Nine records comprising of 11 studies were included, with data heralding from various countries, published between 1990 and 2022. We identified three main themes: travel preparation (type of travel, planning and advice seeking); issues related to air travel (airports and airport security, hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia, and insulin) and general travel-related issues (illness and medical treatment, type 1 diabetes management, and major concerns and barriers).

Conclusions: Our findings highlighted the lack of quality data regarding type 1 diabetes and travel within the extant literature, as well a pressing need for empirical studies to be undertaken and consensus guidelines developed to improve the travel experiences of people with type 1 diabetes. Unless change is made, people with type 1 diabetes will continue to experience preventable risk and harm while travelling.