Assessment of "Young with Diabetes"

The figures from 2012 also showed that at that time there were approx. 8,300 young people aged 10-29 in Denmark with diabetes (primarily type 1), and that the number was increasing.

For young people with type 1 diabetes, achieving good blood sugar control can be particularly challenging. In adolescence, separation from the parents takes place, and the young person is in the transition between being a child, where the parents have taken care of the diabetes treatment, to being an adult, where they have to take care of the treatment themselves. At the time, there was a lack of an easily accessible aid for young people with diabetes that could support the young person in the transition from child to adult.

AIM

From 1 September 2015 to 31 July 2017, the Diabetes Clinic, Children and Adolescent Department, Nordsjællands Hospital tested and evaluated a smartphone application for young people with type 1 diabetes in the project "Young with Diabetes - Test of an app for young people with diabetes".

The main purpose of the study was to verify whether 12-month availability of the "Young with Diabetes" app could improve young people's coping with type 1 diabetes as measured by their long-term blood sugar (HbA1c). In addition, standardised questionnaires were included on a) diabetes-related emotional stress, b) experience of own diabetes competences and c) experience of support for autonomy from health professionals, as well as self-reported measures of severe hypoglycaemic cases (cases of severely low blood sugar) and acute diabetes-related hospitalisations.

ASSESSMENT

As a basis for a national business case for the distribution of the "Young with Diabetes" app, a cost analysis was first carried out that analysed the app's establishment costs as well as operating and maintenance costs. The costs in the study turned out to be relatively low and scaled directly with the number of included departments (and thus staff) and the number of young people with type 1 diabetes involved. In this way, the costs could be scaled up to the national level by making assumptions about the number of departments and the number of patients. At the same time, in order to identify possible financial gains, it was investigated whether the intervention group during the 12-month trial of the app had a lower diabetes-related consumption of hospital services. This study showed no significant differences between the groups.

PARTNERS

The project was a collaboration with the Children and Adolescent Department at Nordsjællands Hospital, Hillerød.

EXTERNAL FUNDING

The project was financed by the Digital Agency and the Foundation for Welfare Technology. "Young with Diabetes" was also funded by the Research Pool, Nordsjællands Hospital and the Telemedicine Knowledge Center, Capital Region. Prior to the randomised controlled study, the project was supported by Telemedicinal Videncenter, Capital Region, OPI Pool, Capital Region, the Regional Council's pool for particularly vulnerable citizens, Mrs Olga Bryde Nielsen's Foundation, Rosalie Petersen's Foundation and the Research Pool, Nordsjællands Hospital.

For further information regarding the project, please contact Tue Kjølhede.