Background Hypoglycaemia may result in significant anxiety and worry or even a fear of hypoglycaemia, which may have clinical implications for diabetes management.

Purpose This study aimed to assess the fear of hypoglycaemia in patients with diabetes type 2, to identify factors affecting this and to seek correlation with treatment adherence.

Material and methods This was an observational cross sectional study carried out in patients with type 2 diabetes in the endocrinology department. Patients with secondary or gestational diabetes were excluded. Fear of hypoglycaemia was measured using the Hypoglycaemia Fear Survey II scale (HFSII). Total scores range from 0 to 60 for the behaviour subscale and from 0 to 72 for the worry subscale. The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale 4 items (MMAS 4 ITEM) was used to asses treatment adherence. Statistical test ANOVA was applied and statistical signficance was accepted at p<0.05.

Results 141 type 2 diabetic patients with different therapeutic regimens were included. In the elderly, fear of hypoglycaemia was more important. Hypoglycaemia fear had a positive correlation with previous history of hypoglycaemia and hypoglycaemia fear (p<0.001) causing increasing worry and behaviour change among type 2 diabetic patients. Patients with a high HFS score had therapeutic adherence problems. Equivalent results were found in similar studies.

Conclusion There was evidence that fear of hypoglycaemia may have a negative impact on therapeutic adherence and diabetes management in general. This requires better care from health professionals.

References and/or acknowledgements Quilliam BJ. Clin Ther2011;33:1781–91.

No conflict of interest