Co-designing Strategies to Reduce Insulin Related Fatty Lumps
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Co-designing Optimal Strategies for the Prevention, Detection and Management of Insulin Mediated Lipohypertrophy in People with Type 1 Diabetes
IRAS ID
340190
Contact name
Angus Forbes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Everyone with type 1 diabetes(T1D) needs to use insulin to control the level of sugar in their body. Most people take injections (jabs) of insulin several times a day; some people use an insulin pump that delivers insulin into the body through a tiny tube called a cannula instead. Unfortunately, almost half of people who take insulin get lumps of fat under their skin that stop the insulin from being absorbed properly. The main risk factors for someone developing fatty lumps under their skin are reusing the same disposable needle for several injections or taking insulin doses in the same body area regularly. Putting insulin into a fatty lump under the skin can cause unexpected high or low blood glucose levels. Over time, having high blood glucose levels increases the risk of sight loss, nerve and kidney damage, heart attack, and stroke. A very low blood glucose level can cause someone to pass out or have a seizure. Without emergency help, a severe low glucose level can be deadly. This study aims to find ways to prevent, detect, and manage fatty lumps, to help people with diabetes avoid the problems these lumps can cause.
We will work together with people with T1D and health professionals to create materials to help people with T1D avoid delivering their insulin into existing fatty lumps. We will also co-create materials explaining the importance of using a fresh needle for every jab and putting insulin doses into different body areas (called ‘injection-site rotation’) to prevent new fatty lumps. We will also get their advice on how to talk about the different ways of checking for fatty lumps. Ultrasound scanning, the same kind of technology that takes a picture of a baby in the womb, could be used to help health professionals find fatty lumps under someone’s skin. However, we do not know how people with T1D and health professionals will get on with using ultrasound scans to check for fatty lumps, so we will ask them about this.
We want to be sure that the work we do is useful for people with T1D as well as for doctors and nurses. We formed a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group to get opinions of people with T1D about how we should do this study. Both the PPI group and our patient co-applicant will play key roles in the study, by shaping the materials we use to conduct the study and helping to interpret the study results and outputs. We will pay all the patients who take part for their time. When the study is finished, we will communicate the results widely across patient and professional networks and conferences, and in diabetes magazines, websites and journals.
REC name
Wales REC 3
REC reference
24/WA/0224
Date of REC Opinion
24 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion