Roche Diabetes Care Celebrates Second Annual Infusion Site Awareness Week, Aug. 29-Sept. 4

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Roche Diabetes Care, makers of the ACCU-CHEK® portfolio of diabetes management products and services, is proud to host its second annual Infusion Site Awareness Week, Aug. 29-Sept. 4, a week-long effort to highlight the importance of proper infusion site management for the 400,000 people in the United States with Type 1 diabetes who use an insulin pump.

"The inaugural Infusion Site Awareness Week, which was launched during the 2010 annual American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) conference, helped us reach hundreds of diabetes educators and people living with Type 1 diabetes who are now better able to identify and address potential complications stemming from improper site management," said Roche Diabetes Care North America Medical Director Andreas Stuhr, M.D.

According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), a supporting partner for this year's campaign, as many as 3 million Americans live with type 1 diabetes, and about 15,000 children and 15,000 adults are diagnosed with the disease every year.  

"Living with type 1 diabetes requires a person to be extremely aware and knowledgeable about the disease," said Aaron Kowalski, Ph.D., Assistant Vice President of Treatment Therapies for JDRF. "In addition to monitoring blood sugar and adjusting diet and exercise, proper infusion site rotation and care is an often underemphasized, but very important part of good diabetes management. Infusion Site Awareness Week is a perfect opportunity for diabetes educators to discuss the importance of best practices for insulin pump usage with their patients, both new and old."

For people with diabetes using insulin pump therapy, the infusion site is where an insulin pump's plastic cannula or steel needle is placed under the user's skin to administer insulin. Infusion site management is the practice of choosing a site, cleaning and preparing it, properly inserting a cannula or needle, monitoring insulin flow and then regularly rotating the insertion site to avoid infection and ensure appropriate insulin delivery. In most cases, this site must be changed every one to three days and the same site must not be reused for about two weeks or until the site has fully healed.

Roche started the annual initiative last year to increase understanding and education about proper infusion site management. A 2007 study in the American Diabetes Association journal Diabetes Care reported that some adult patients experience as many as 12 issues of irritation or infection a year because of improper site maintenance. The authors concluded that "efforts to minimize the risk of irritation, scarring, and infection should include strict adherence to proper infusion site preparation, catheter insertion, and site rotation."(1)

To help increase education, Roche is distributing Infusion Site Awareness Week kits to certified diabetes educators throughout the U.S. These kits include an educational DVD explaining proper site maintenance, fact sheets to help facilitate discussions and promotional materials such as bracelets, temporary tattoos, logos and press materials to help with outreach within their communities. Information can also be found at www.infusionsitemanagement.com.

In addition to the kits, Roche is taking the conversation on infusion site management to the social web. Follow the Infusion Site Awareness movement on Twitter @infusionsite for regular updates about healthy living, diabetes management, and other important news.

"The prospect of constant finger pricks, strict diets and wearing an insulin pump all day can be devastating to newly diagnosed diabetes patients," Dr. Stuhr said. "With Infusion Site Awareness Week, we hope to make living with diabetes a little easier, a little less scary, and help people develop life-long practices that will lead to more healthy lives."

For more information, go to www.infusionsitemanagement.com.

About Roche Diabetes Care

Roche Diabetes Care is a pioneer in the development of blood glucose monitoring systems and a global leader for diabetes management systems and services. For more than 30 years, Roche has been committed to helping people with diabetes live lives that are as normal and active as possible and has been helping healthcare professionals manage their patients' condition in an optimal way. Today, the ACCU-CHEK portfolio offers people with diabetes and healthcare professionals innovative products, services and comprehensive solutions for convenient, efficient and effective diabetes management—from blood glucose monitoring through information management to insulin delivery. The ACCU-CHEK brand encompasses blood glucose meters, infusion pumps, lancing and data management systems. For more information, please visit accu-chek.com.

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.

For further information, please contact:
Todd A. Siesky
Public Relations Manager
Roche Diabetes Care
9115 Hague Road, Building H
Indianapolis, IN 46250-0457
Phone: +1-317-521-3966
[email protected]
www.accu-chek.com

(1) Phillip, Moshe, MD, Battelino, Tadej , MD, PhD, Rodriguez, Henry, Danne, Thomas, MD, and Kaufman, Francine. "Use of Insulin Pump Therapy in the Pediatric Age-Group." DiabetesCare 30.6 (2007): 1653-1662.

SOURCE Roche Diabetes Care