Background Hypoglycaemia is the antidiabetic drugs’ major side effect, especially for insulin and insulin secretagogues. Few observations in real-life iatrogenic hypoglycaemia studies on type 2 diabetes have been carried out.

Purpose To assess iatrogenic hypoglycaemia frequency on type 2 diabetic patients and to measure its impact on quality of life.

Material and methods It was an observational cross-sectional study among type 2 diabetes inpatients and outpatients at the endocrinology department. Patients were asked the number of times they experienced light or moderate hypoglycaemia in the past 6 months and severe hypoglycaemia in the past 12 months. Quality of life related to patient’s health was measured by the Euro 5 quality of life dimensions (EQ-5D). The EQ-5D score index was determined through a conversion table. This score can range from −0.529 to 1 in our country. The EQ-5D also includes a visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) graduated from 0 to 100. Statistical tests ANOVA and the Chi-square test 2 were applied and statistical significance was accepted at p<0.05

Results A total of 141 type 2 diabetic patients were enrolled. Average age was 59.3±10.2 years and the sex ratio was 0:64. Among patients, 71 (50.4%) reported at least one incident of hypoglycaemia. Only nine patients (6%) had immediately confirmed hypoglycaemia by a blood glucose finger less than 0.7 g/L. Seventeen patients (12%) reported severe hypoglycaemia, whereas hospitalisation was required for six cases in the emergency department, including treatment with glucagon or glucose solution. Median score of the EQ-VAS was 65. Severe hypoglycaemia occurrence was significantly related to mobility problems (p=0.027), autonomy (p=0.015) and usual activities (p=0.034). Hypoglycaemia is associated with a quality of life index less than the average level (p<0.001). Similar results were found in other studies. Hypoglycaemic events number had no significant impact on quality of life, with P-values greater than 0.05 for all EQ-5D dimensions.

Conclusion Our study revealed that iatrogenic hypoglycaemia had elevated rates and it impacts type 2 diabetic patients’ quality of life. This major side effect should have more consideration by practitioners for better diabetes management.

References and/or acknowledgements Green AJ. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2012;96:313–8.

No conflict of interest.