Costs and underuse of insulin and diabetes supplies: Findings from the 2020 T1International cross-sectional web-based survey

Aims: To investigate self-reported out-of-pocket expenses (OoPE) associated with insulin and diabetes supplies for people living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) worldwide. Methods: A web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted from August to December 2020. The analysis included comparisons between responses from countries with no, partial, and full healthcare coverage. Results: 1,066 participants from 64 countries took part in the study. ~25% of respondents reported having underused insulin at least once within the last year due to perceived cost. A significant correlation was observed between OoPEs and reported household income for respondents with partial healthcare coverage. 63.2% of participants reported disruption of insulin supplies and 25.3% reported an increase of prices related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: This study confirms previous reports of ~25% of people in the United States with T1D using less insulin and/or fewer supplies at least once in the last year due to cost, a trend associated with the extent of healthcare coverage. Similar trends were observed in some middle/low income countries. Moreover, patients reported an increase in insulin prices and disruption of supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study highlights the importance of self-reported OoPEs and its association with underuse/rationing of insulin.

Citation

Pfiester, E., Braune, K., Thieffry, A., Ballhausen, H., Gajewska, K. A., & O'Donnell, S. (2021). Costs and underuse of insulin and diabetes supplies: Findings from the 2020 T1International cross-sectional web-based survey. Diabetes research and clinical practice, 179, 108996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2021.108996

DOI

10.1016/j.diabres.2021.108996

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14709/824

License

CC BY 4.0

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Usage rights

CC BY 4.0

License

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/