Imagine depending on a medical device to help keep you alive, but knowing little about its faults.
According to a recent statement in the journal Diabetes Care, that is the predicament of insulin-pump users.
An insulin pump is a small device a person wears all the time for a continuous supply of insulin to help maintain a healthful blood sugar level. The pump delivers insulin into the body through a small catheter. Large insulin doses can be delivered before a meal at the push of a button.
Because a blood sugar level that’s extremely high or extremely low can be fatal, insulin-pump users can be in serious trouble if a pump malfunctions or simply stops working.
That’s why the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes have teamed up to call for more transparency about insulin pumps, their rates of failure and specific weaknesses.
The groups say pump manufacturers need to release more information about the long-term performance of each pump model. Sure, the pumps work well when they’re brand new, but little is known about how well the devices operate over time.
Another problem is that data on problems users experience with pumps is not uniformly available. In Europe, such data is not released to the public. Even in the United States, manufacturers do not have to publish the findings of their investigations into reported problems.
Other complaints include lack of international consistency in regulation of pumps and difficulty using U.S. databases on pump problems.
If you use an insulin pump, it’s important to know how to handle a pump problem. To be safe, learn as much about your pump as you can and consult your doctor and the manufacturer about how to handle a malfunction.