Background: Electronic measures of adherence can be superior to patient report. In type 1 diabetes, frequency of blood glucose monitoring (BGM), as measured by patients' home blood glucose meters, has already been identified as a valid proxy of adherence. We present methodology to calculate adherence using insulin pump records and evaluate the reliability and validity of this methodology. Subjects and Methods: Blood glucose meter data, insulin pump records, and corresponding hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels were randomly gathered from clinical and research databases for 100 children and youths (referred to hereafter as youths) with type 1 diabetes (mean -SD age, 12.7 -4.6 years). Youths' mean frequency of daily BGM was calculated. Additionally, we calculated a mean mealtime insulin bolus score (BOLUS): youths received 1 point each for a bolus between 0600 and 1000 h, 1100 and 1500 h, and 1600 and 2200 h (maximum of 1 point/meal or 3 points/day). Results: Simple correlations between youths' HbA1c level, age, frequency of BGM, and insulin BOLUS scores were all significant. Partial correlations and multiple regression analyses revealed that insulin BOLUS scores better explain variations in HbA1c levels than the electronically recorded frequency of daily blood glucose measures. Conclusions: Our procedures for calculating insulin BOLUS scores using insulin pump records demonstrate better concurrent validity with youths' HbA1c levels than that of the frequency of BGM with youths' HbA1c levels. Our analyses have shown that insulin bolus scoring was superior to the frequency of BGM in predicting youths' HbA1c levels.
Analyses suggest an associated increase in T1D self-management behaviors in youths with increased sleep duration. These findings highlight the importance of assessing sleep in clinical practice, and encourage further research to examine effective strategies to address sleep hygiene as part of routine diabetes management.
The costs of pediatric telemedicine services remain underreported and understudied; however, there is evidence that telepediatric services can be cost competitive with traditional ones. For 15 years, the University of Kansas Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth has been providing telemental health outreach from the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC). One service site is located in Crawford County, Kansas, which provides telepsychiatry services to children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the costs of operating the Crawford County site relative to accessing services at KUMC, the likely alternative service location. The cost of travel time to parents who accompanied a dependent to either location also was estimated. Patients and parents were examined over a 6-month period in 2006. One hundred thirty-two patients received 257 telemedicine psychiatric consultations during this period. Cost estimates for using the pediatric telemedicine service were assessed for all patients; however, travel and related costs were collected from a sample of 26 patient-parent dyads. The estimated costs of services were obtained using standard cost-accounting procedures. An average cost per consultation in Crawford County was $168.61. The cost savings in travel time and other expenses to parents and patients were substantial between use of the county site and KUMC. Subtracting average savings in travel costs to patients and parents produced an average cost of a telepsychiatry consult in Crawford County of only $30.99. This study was conducted over 6 months with a small number of observations; it should be replicated over a longer study period, with more patients, and with more data that might capture marginal costs of services.
In a prospective, longitudinal design, youths' BOLUS scores were superior to youths' daily BGM in predicting future values of HbA1c. Calculating a BOLUS score versus BGM can help researchers and clinicians achieve a better prediction of youths' HbA1c.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.