Blood glucose meters with acoustic signals

Experts call for blood glucose meters with audible signals for the blind with diabetes

05/29/2013

The German Diabetes Help „diabetesDE“ According to reports, about 2,000 people go blind every year due to diabetes. Lack of barrier-free insulin pens, insulin pumps and blood glucose meters force sufferers to seek help for their day-to-day medical care. In this case, blood glucose meters with acoustic signals and other barrier-free medical devices could often be made without much effort. But so far, most medical device manufacturers refuse to make appropriate aids available for the visually impaired. Reason is the cost.

Visually impaired diabetics need blood glucose meters with acoustic signals
One in three diabetics suffers from retinal damage resulting from increased blood sugar and blood pressure. Frequently, sufferers do not notice for years, because until the visual acuity due to the so-called diabetic retinopathy is limited, the disease must be more advanced. „Type 1 diabetics must undergo an annual retinal examination from the fifth year of the disease; people with type 2 diabetes should go to the annual screening immediately after diagnosis“, reports Professor med. Thomas Danne, CEO of „diabetesDE“ and Chief Physician of the Children's Hospital „On the bult“ in Hannover. Unfortunately, it is estimated that only one in five people would follow this medical advice. After 25 years, up to 85 percent of all Type 1 diabetics and already 15 to 20 years after onset of the disease, up to 80 percent of Type 2 diabetics develop retinal damage.

Since diabetes is usually associated with vision impairment, it is important that all medical aids for diabetics are equipped with audible signals. This is the only way for those affected to carry out their daily therapy independently and to give up 24-hour assistance. „Instead, device manufacturers are producing less and less accessible pens and blood glucose meters that can be used by the visually impaired“, explains Jan Twachtmann, CEO of the German Diabetes Aid - People with Diabetes (DDH-M). If visually impaired diabetics are unable to fully perform their treatment, the risk of complications such as organ damage may increase dramatically. A 24-hour care of diabetics is not a solution. Neither affected nor wanted the society to bear the costs for such a supply.

German Diabetes Help calls for the best possible care of people with diabetes
The trained nurse and diabetes counselor, Diana Droßel, is herself affected by type 1 diabetes and has been blind since 1982. „I asked a pen manufacturer if accessibility could not be considered for new developments. I got the answer that blind diabetics should not inject themselves. A meter manufacturer told me that even the marginal cost of 50 cents per accessibility meter is detrimental to the competition“, reports Droßel.

DDH-M and diabetesDE are campaigning for the rights of diabetics and calling for the standardization of all diabetes care self-help medical devices in a barrier-free version. With the campaign „STOP Diabetes - now!“ fight for the best possible care to ensure an equal quality of life for diabetics.

Diabetes also increases in children
Diabetes is also increasing in children and adolescents. Only a few decades ago, type 2 diabetes almost exclusively occurred in older people - henceforth also referred to as adult-onset diabetes - today adolescents are increasingly affected by the metabolic disorder. According to a new study by the University of Ulm, children and adolescents with a migrant background are particularly likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes. The proportion of affected children in the recorded type 2 diabetes illnesses was 40 percent more than twice as high as the proportion of the total population, the researchers said. Especially children of Turkish, Eastern European or Russian descent are affected more often than average. The researchers from Ulm are primarily responsible for socioeconomic reasons for the increased risk of diabetes among immigrant children. (Ag)