News & Events
BD announces new Diabetes support literature specifically designed for adults and older people
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Oxford, UK – June 2009 -- BD Medical - Diabetes Care, a unit of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), announced today the full UK availability of its new patient support literature designed specifically for adults and older people. The guide clearly and simply describes best practice for blood sampling and self-injection of insulin using language and imagery targeted at more mature people with diabetes. BD Medical - Diabetes Care is making the literature available through diabetes specialist nurses, as well as direct from the company. Practices and hospitals wishing to obtain stocks should contact the following email address: bddiabetes@europe.bd.com. Injection technique is important in ensuring better health outcomes for people living with diabetes. Poor technique can cause immediate problems, such as hypoglycaemia (a sudden drop in blood sugar because of accelerated insulin absorption) and, longer-term, lipohypertrophy (accumulation of fat under the skin caused by injecting too frequently in the same area - lipohypertrophy may cause variability in the absorption of insulin). Studies have shown that intensive (more injections of insulin per day) and more precise insulin doses help patients to avoid diabetes-related complications such as heart disease and stroke, kidney failure and foot problems . Improving patients’ self-administration technique of insulin and teaching them how to match meal planning and exercise to their insulin dose, through education early in the disease process, not only helps empower the patient to self-manage their condition and improve health outcomes, it also contributes to containing and managing the cost of diabetes care. Every year, diabetes treatment and complications costs the National Health Service approximately £1 million per hour, and a figure that is increasing rapidly . As many as 2.75 million people in the UK now have diabetes, and this total is forecast to climb to four million by 2025. Diabetes accounts for approximately a tenth of NHS budget each year, a total exceeding £9 billion2. Jazz Panchoo, Business Director, UK and Ireland, BD Medical - Diabetes Care, comments: “Helping people with diabetes to manage their condition as effectively as possible is critical to managing their quality of life and their long-term health. The better their self-administration technique, the less likely inaccurate dosing or other complications become. Also, the earlier in the cycle of the condition that good technique can be developed, the more positive impact there is likely to be on longer-term health outcomes. “In support of diabetes specialists and nurses, we have launched this range of literature in order to contribute to an improvement in patient education. We have also recognised – and this is very unusual in the current diabetes literature available – that the style and language which appeal to more mature people is not the same as that designed for teenagers, or families with young children. That’s why this time around we have created support literature specifically for different age groups. Pre-launch testing has shown us that this approach is extremely popular and we hope that this will contribute to a major improvement in injection technique amongst adults and older people.” About BD Contact: [1] Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating [DAFNE] Study Group, 2001; Gray et al, 2000; Gilmer et al, 1997
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