Ravindra Shukla,Divyangi  Mishra,
Internet Usage May Improve Quality of Life (QoL) in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Patients
Journal of Diabetes Metabolism and its Complications
2020
2674-4163
http://dx.doi.org/10.31487/j.JDMC.2020.01.06
https://www.sciencerepository.org/internet-usage-may-improve-quality-of-life-qol-in-type_JDMC-2020-1-106 
Abstract: Objective: To delineate the effect of self-gained information through internet on glycemic control and
overall QoL in type 1 diabetes patient.
Methodology: 35 type 1 diabetes patients, who had reasonably good glycemic control were classified by
a single clinician into net- savvy and ordinary based on their behaviour towards use of internet to gather
information regarding health queries and their glycemic control and QoL analysed.WHO-5 questionnaire
which is used in clinical practise was applied.
Result: Of net savvy group (n=18), 14 (82%) had WHO-5 score greater than 13 while among ordinary
(n=17) only 7 had WHO5 of same range. Thus, those who surfed internet were in general likely to have
better QoL. Among net savvy group all had individual smart phones and used google as search engine.
Among ordinary, 40% (9/17) had smart phones. The mean HbA1c of net savvy group was 7.2 which was
lower than that of ordinary group mean HbA1c of 7.6. Those of net savvy group were more likely to
agree to increase in number of s.c. insulin injections (12/18) as compared to ordinary group (4/17). The
self-reported hypoglycemia episodes were also more in net savvy group (6/ person-week) as compared
to ordinary (2/ person- week).
Conclusion: Use of smart search engines like google (with strong in-built Artificial Intelligence (AI)
systems), even if unsupervised, should be encouraged as part of DSME in type 1 Diabetes patients for
optimizing glycemic control and detecting hypoglycemic episodes.Keywords: Google, type 1 Diabetes mellitus, diabetes education