Outcome of Text messaging on glycemic control in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus: A Single Group Pre and Post intervention Study.

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this study is to find the outcome of text messaging on glycemic control in children with type1 DM. Study Design: Prospective Single Group Pre- and Post-intervention study. Setting: Diabetic Clinic of Department of Pediatric Endocrinology at The Children hospital and the Institute of Child Health, (CH & ICH) Multan. Period: October 2019 to December 2019. Material & Methods: Forty nine children and adolescents of 10-15 years old with T1DM were included in this study after taking informed consent from patient or their caregivers. Text messages were sent 5 times per week to patients/parents in simple Urdu language about diabetes education and Interactive message was sent weekly about blood sugar monitoring and insulin dose modification. To make sure patients are receiving text messages, phone calls were made regularly. Results: Among diabetic children 24 (49%) were males. The age ranged from 10-15 years and mean age was 12.6 ± 1.8 years. Mean duration of diabetes was 4.7± 2.8 years. Before intervention fasting and post prandial blood glucose levels per month were 160.4 mg/dl and 190 mg/dl respectively. After 12 weeks of text messaging fasting and post prandial blood glucose levels significantly (p-value < 0.001) dropped to 135.2 mg/dl and 170 mg/dl respectively.  Similarly, HbA1C level decreased from 10% to 9% after intervention with p value of <0.001. Similar significant improvement was seen in frequency of hypoglycemic/hyperglycemic episode, missed insulin doses and frequency of hospital admissions. Conclusion: Our study showed a significant improvement in glycemic control and diabetes case management by diabetic educational and interactive text messages.