Low Blood Glucose Can Be Highly Dangerous

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Low Blood Glucose Can Be Highly Dangerous (NAPS)—If you or someone you care about is among the more than 29 million Americans living with diabetes—of the additional 86 million who are at risk for developing the disease— there’s something you should know. The Problem * One complication of diabetes, hypo- glycemia, occurs most often in people taking medications as treatments that mayraise insulin levels too high, which can cause blood glucose levels to drop too low. Hypoglycemia can be dangerous and, depending ontheseverity, can lead to various symptoms including dizziness, confusion, anxiety, seizure or loss of consciousness. Its a particular problem in hospi- talized patients. Low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia, is associated with increased short- and long-term mortality risk, per a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. To increase awareness of hypoglycemia in persons with diabetes mellitus and to foster initiatives focused on reducing its incidence, the Endocrine Society established the Hypoglycemia Quality Collaborative (HQC), a coali- tion of medical specialty societies, pay- ers, industry, patient advocates, diabetes educators and research organizations. Seeking Answers “Hypoglycemia is common among hospitalized patients with and without diabetes mellitus” explained the study's senior author, Amit Akirov, M.D., of Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, Israel. “Our findings suggest that hypoglycemia, whether insulin related or noninsulin related, is associated with short- and long-term mortality risk” ‘The study included nearly 3,000 patients with hypoglycemia, defined as blood glucoselevels < 70 mg/dL, during hospitalization at a 1,330-bed, universi- ty-affiliated medical center. Researchers evaluated medical records and the hospital’s mortality database to investigate the association between hypoglycemia and mortality in hospitalized patients. ‘Th found that for patients with hypoglycemia, end of follow-up mortality was 31.9 percent. Mortality risk was higher in insulin-treated patients with moderate hypoglycemia (40-70 mg/dL), compared to patients without insulin treatment with similar glucose values. However, with severe hypoglycemia (

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