Insulin Storage by Patients with Diabetes Mellitus in Jos, Nigeria.

Abstract

To determine how insulin is stored at home among insulin-treated patients with Diabetes mellitus in Jos, Nigeria, 150 such patients attending the Diabetes clinic of Jos University Teaching Hospital were interviewed.
It was found that 87 (58%) kept their insulin in a refrigerator. Most of the remainder, 43 (28.7%) stored insulin in clay pots. Few (14, 9.3%) patients stored or kept insulin at various sites at room temperature. In only 6(4%) were the sites of storage likely to be excessively cold (freezer, 3.3%) or hot (box, 0.7%), with risks of loss of insulin potency.
In conclusion, we found a relatively high availability of refrigerators for insulin storage. For the remainder, most of the modes of storage were unlikely to be associated with significant problems of stability of insulin in the home.


The Journal of Medicine in the Tropics Vol. 9 (1) 2007: pp. 37-40