A study of hypoglycemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients using continuous glucose monitoring system

Abstract

The study was conducted with the objectives to assess the proportion of occurrence of hypoglycaemia, its episodes and to find the correlation between HbA1c and hypoglycemia among the subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus subjects. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study conducted among a total of 50 subjects for a period of 18 months. Considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, with basic data collection, all the study subjects were subjected to Continuous Glucose Monitoring using FREESTYLE LIBRE PRO approved by FDA. The data was collected for a whole 24 hour period and a series of such data was collected for 14 days and was expressed in means and proportions. Correlation was elicited using Pearson’s Correlation test. The analysis was done by SPSS version 16.0. A P value of <0.05 was taken as statistically significant Results: Mean age of the study subjects was 54.78 + 9.49 years. Majority i.e., Seventy percent (70.0%) were males and Seventy Two percent (72.0%) were on oral hypoglycaemic agents. Sixteen percent (16.0%) gave history of previous hypoglycaemia. Thirty Two (32.0%) had atleast 1 episode of hypoglycaemia (Mean of 1.1 episodes/patient/14 days of CGMS) and more than Fifty (50.0%) of those had severe hypoglycaemia. Levels of HbA1c with the occurrence of hypoglycaemia and mean number of episodes of hypoglycemia showed a negative correlation however it was significant with mean number of episodes (P<0.05). Conclusion: The occurrence of hypoglycaemia with decreasing levels of HbA1c indicates the strict therapeutic management. Previous history of hypoglycaemia is an indicator for further hypoglycaemia occurrence and has to be taken into account during the follow up of such cases.