Patients’ attitudes to the use of modern technologies in the treatment of diabetes

Abstract

Background: The incidence of diabetes is rising across the world. This global problem significantly affects the economic and social development in the 21st century. If the disease is diagnosed in time, the number of complications as well as the costs of therapy will be lower. Modern technologies permeate all spheres of medicine, and diabetes treatment is no exception. Therefore, the aim of this article is to analyze patients’ attitudes to the use of modern technologies in the treatment of diabetes (type 1 diabetes mellitus [T1DM] and type 2 diabetes mellitus [T2DM]). Methods: A total of 313 respondents from the Czech Republic in the period from June 24, 2015, to July 24, 2015, participated in a questionnaire survey. The target group was diabetics regardless of the type of illness. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods, Z-test, and test of independence (Pearson’s chi-squared test). Results: Although in other areas mobile applications are used to monitor patients’ health condition in ∼30% of cases, in the case of diabetes they are used by only 4% of respondents. Approximately 8% of participants use an application, but they do not like it. The rest of the respondents have never used any mobile application. These low figures are due to a lack of knowledge about the availability and possibilities of mobile applications. A positive correlation was proven between technical skills and methods of entering data. Gender and age show only a weak dependency of the method of writing data on their own health condition. Furthermore, the monitored parameters show that patients with T1DM control and know more about their health condition than patients with T2DM, which is reflected, for example, by more frequent blood glucose measurements or larger track of their physical activity. Conversely, the relationship between the associated complications and self-care activities has not been demonstrated. Conclusion: Despite the current fast development of modern technologies, these technologies are not frequently used in treating patients. The principal problem lies in patients’ low technological knowledge and their higher age, which makes learning new skills, including the use of modern technologies, more difficult.