Insulin pumps and the health of Type 1 Diabetes patients

Abstract: Approximately 5 percent of the Swedish population is diagnosed with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. A growing treatment method for type 1 patients is to supply the body with insulin using a pump. This thesis investigates if the use of pumps improves the health of the patients using two-way fixed effects regressions on quality register data on Swedish diabetes patients. I find statistically significant results indicating health benefits for type 1 diabetes patients, though smaller than previous studies. For future research, I suggest estimating quality of life changes from using an insulin pump in order for policymakers to make fully informed decisions on insulin treatment.