Quality of life and new devices in the management of type 1 diabetes in children and adolescents

Insulin therapy is the cornerstone in treatment of type 1 diabetes in children and adolescents. In order to prevent long-term complication multiple daily injections (MDI) are required. Quality of life is clearly affected by the administrations of 3-4 daily injections with syringe. Insulin pens are new devices realized with the aim of simplifying insulin administration. More recently continuous blood sugar monitoring has become available for clinical studies and its role for better metabolic control and quality of life is now under investigation. The aim of this paper is to review published data on the significance of insulin pen and continuous blood sugar monitoring on quality of life in diabetic children and adolescents.