Why don’t more people use insulin pens?
Although insulin pens are very popular in Europe, fewer than 20 percent of Americans who inject insulin currently use pens. A report published in Diabetes Care in November 2007 discussed the factors that affect the use of insulin pens by type 2 diabetes patients. The researchers studied 300 type 2 patients who used a vial and syringe to inject insulin and 300 patients who used an insulin pen. The study found that patients whose doctors recommended the pen were far more likely to use pens than those whose doctors did not make such a recommendation. Other factors included having pens presented as an option, viewing pens as an aid to diabetes self-care, and believing that pens are not costly. The advantages are many Jane Seley, GNP, MPH, MSN, CDE, agrees that insulin pens are less popular in the United States primarily because most healthcare professionals are unfamiliar with them. In a November 2005 article for Diabetes Health (“Is an Insulin Pen Right for You?”), Seley wrote about the a
