Patient time costs associated with sensor-augmented insulin pump therapy for type 1 diabetes: results from the STAR 3 randomized trial.

Background: Sensor-augmented pump therapy (SAPT) leads to lower glycated hemoglobin levels than multiple daily injections of insulin (MDI) in patients with type 1 diabetes. Patient time and costs associated with SAPT are not known.

Objective: We compared time spent on diabetes-related care, changes in time, and associated patient time costs between patients randomly assigned to SAPT or MDI. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS. During a 52-week clinical trial, participants aged 7 to 70 years (n = 483) reported total time per week spent on diabetes-related care.

Measurements: Patient time, including comparisons during pump initiation, 52-week patient time costs, and changes in weekly time estimates after pump initiation.

Results: At baseline, patients in the MDI group reported spending an average of 4.0 hours per week on diabetes-related care. During the pump initiation period (weeks 1-7), SAPT patients spent 1.9 hours more per week than MDI patients (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-2.6). After the initiation period (weeks 8-52), SAPT patients spent 1 hour more per week (95% CI, 0.4-1.7) than MDI patients (i.e., 4.4 v. 3.4 hours); patients in both groups spent progressively less time on diabetes-related care by 1.2 minutes per week (95% CI, -1.7 to -0.7). Overall, mean time costs per person were $4600 with the SAPT group and $3523 with the MDI group (difference, $1077; 95% CI, $491-$1638).

Limitations: Time spent on specific activities was not collected, and the estimates do not explicitly account for caregiver time associated with diabetes care activities.

Conclusions: Patients receiving SAPT v. MDI spent approximately 2 hours more per week on diabetes-related care during pump initiation and 1 hour more per week thereafter, resulting in higher patient time costs.