Real-World Patient Experience of Long-Term Hybrid Closed-Loop Insulin Pump Use

Understanding of patient experiences and adaptations to hybrid closed-loop (HCL) pumps beyond the confines of short-term clinical trials is needed to inform best practices surrounding this emerging technology. We investigated long-term, real-world patient experiences with HCL technology.

In semistructured interviews, 21 adults with type 1 diabetes at a single Canadian tertiary diabetes centre discussed their transition to use of Medtronic MiniMed 670G auto-mode. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed iteratively to identify emerging themes.

Participants' mean age was 50±13 years, 12 of the 21 participants were female, baseline glycated hemoglobin (A1C) was 7.9±1.0% and auto-mode duration was 9.3±4.6 months. Three had discontinued auto-mode. Most participants praised auto-mode for reducing hypoglycemia, stabilizing glucose overnight and improving A1C, while also reporting frustration with frequency of alarms and user input, sensor quality and inadequate response to hyperglycemia. Participants with the highest baseline A1Cs (8.8% to 9.8%) tended to report immense satisfaction and trust in auto-mode, meeting their primary expectations of improved glycemic control. In contrast, participants with controlled diabetes (A1C <7.5%) had hoped to offload active management but experienced significant cognitive and emotional labour associated with relinquishing control during suboptimal auto-mode performance. Participants were commonly aware of workarounds to "trick" the pump, and almost all participants with A1C <7.5% tried at least 1 workaround.

In the real-world setting, patients' goals and satisfaction with auto-mode appeared to vary considerably with their baseline diabetes control. Patients with the most suboptimal glycemic control described the greatest benefits and easiest adaptation process, challenging commonly held assumptions for patient selection for pump therapy.