New data emphasize importance of avoiding hypoglycemic glucose levels in type 1 diabetes

Researchers have shown that measures of biochemical hypoglycemia in fingerstick blood samples are associated with an increased risk of severe hypoglycemic events. The results of this new study, which further emphasize the dangers of hypoglycemic blood glucose levels, are published in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics (DTT).

Roy Beck, MD, Ph.D., Jaeb Center for Health Research (Tampa, FL), Richard Bergenstal, MD, International Diabetes Center Park Nicollet (Minneapolis, MN), and Tonya Riddlesworth, Ph.D. and Craig Kollman, Ph.D., Jaeb Center for Health Research, present their findings in the article entitled "The Association of Biochemical Hypoglycemia with the Subsequent Risk of a Severe Hypoglycemic Event: Analysis of the DCCT Data Set." The researchers used two different levels of biochemical hypoglycemia - <70 or <54 mg/dL—to determine the relationship to severe hypoglycemic events. When either level was present, the risk of severe hypoglycemic events was significantly higher.

"Severe hypoglycemia is a significant hurdle for intensifying insulin therapy in patients with T1D. Beck and colleagues emphasize the increased risk of future severe hypoglycemia in patients with any level of biochemical hypoglycemia," says DTT Editor-in-Chief Satish Garg, MD, Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver (Aurora).