Parental mastery of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion skills and glycemic control in youth with type 1 diabetes

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine whether parental knowledge of the continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) device affects glycemic control as measured by hemoglobin A1c (A1C) level. Subjects and Methods: Parents of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) using CSII completed a 14-item questionnaire. Questions 1-10 were knowledge-based questions that required the parent to extract specific information from their child's CSII device. Questions 11-14 asked parents to provide a self-assessment of their CSII knowledge. Results: Twenty-two parents of youth with T1DM participated in the study. Ten of the youth were in the Low-A1C group (A1C<8%), and the other 12 were in the High-A1C group (A1C≥8%). Parents of youth in the Low-A1C group scored statistically better on the 10-item performance survey than parents of youth in the High-A1C group. Most of the parents of children in the Low-A1C group responded that they knew their child's insulin pump "very well" and that their pump knowledge had "increased" since their child started on the insulin pump. Conclusions: Our findings reveal that youth with T1DM whose parents are more knowledgeable about pump functions have optimal glycemic control as evidenced by A1C. These findings underscore the importance of ongoing pump training for both pediatric patients and their parents.