Twelve patients with insulin‐dependent diabetes and visual acuity of 6/12 or worse in the best eye were transferred to three preprandial injections of human Actrapid insulin daily using the NovoPen (Novo Laboratories Ltd, Basingstoke, Hants, England) and a bedtime injection of human Ultratard insulin by syringe. There was a small but significant fall in mean HbAl (%) over the study period (11.4±3.14 at entry: 10.1±2.83 after six months: p<0.05). The NovoPen proved popular with the patients: flexibility in mealtimes was appreciated by all patients, and seven patients felt they were more relaxed about their diabetes. Half the patients felt they were now more active whilst the others were little changed or worse because of further visual deterioration (four patients) or other complications such as neuropathy (two patients). There were no technical problems with the NovoPen but four patients were not sure of getting the correct insulin dose when the cartridge was nearly empty. The NovoPen may be of particular value in visually impaired diabetic patients in whom it may increase patient independence.
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Hyer et al. (1988) studied this question.