Patient Time Costs Associated with Sensor-Augmented Insulin Pump Therapy for Type 1 Diabetes Results from the STAR 3 Randomized Trial

Background. Sensor-augmented pump therapy (SAPT) leads to lower glycated hemoglobin levels than multiple daily injections of insulin (MDI) in patients with type 1 diabetes. Patient time and costs associated with SAPT are not known. Objective. We compared time spent on diabetes-related care, changes in time, and associated patient time costs between patients randomly assigned to SAPT or MDI. Design, Setting, and Participants. During a 52-week clinical trial, participants aged 7 to 70 years (n = 483) reported total time per week spent on diabetes-related care. Measurements. Patient time, including comparisons during pump initiation, 52-week patient time costs, and changes in weekly time estimates after pump initiation. Results. At baseline, patients in the MDI group reported spending an average of 4.0 hours per week on diabetes-related care. During the pump initiation period (weeks 1–7), SAPT patients spent 1.9 hours more per week than MDI patients (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–2.6). After the initiati...