Frequancy of Hypoglycemia in Type 2 Diabetic Patients in Sample of Egyptian People in Clinic based study

Abstract

Hypoglycemia remains a major obstacle to improved glycemic control in diabetes despite the development of novel short- and long-acting and insulin analogues and the more widespread use of pump therapy. Hypoglycemia is a true medical emergency which requires prompt recognition and treatment to prevent organ and brain damage. The spectrum of symptoms depends on duration and severity of hypoglycemia and varied from autonomic activation to behavioral changes to altered cognitive function to seizures or coma. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is rising worldwide and its severe complications such as hypoglycemic coma, affect many patients. It should be noted that the incidence of reported hypoglycemia is usually under- estimates because of difficulty to determine. The detection of hypoglycemia would require continuous blood glucose measurements. In this regard asymptomatic episodes of hypoglycemia could be missed unless detected by monitoring of blood glucose. On the other hand, the incidence of symptomatic episodes is difficult to determine because they are rarely reported. Additionally in some clinical trials hypoglycemia is not a primary outcome which makes it difficult to estimate the incidence of hypoglycemia. While the episodes of severe hypoglycemia are a small fraction of the total hypoglycemic, estimation of this event is the most reliable since severe hypoglycemia events are better documented.