Congress Reporter

Congress Reporter - automated alarms for hypoglycemia, spatial abilities, driving licences for individuals with recurrent severe hypoglycemia, and neuropsychological impact of diabetes

Martin Gilmour of the Diabetic Hypoglycemia Editorial Team

Diabetic Hypoglycemia January 2009, Volume 1, Issue 3: page 8-9

This edition of Diabetic Hypoglycemia reviews three abstracts presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) and one that was presented at the 34th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD). One abstract describes the development of automated alarms that may one day provide an early warning of the onset of hypoglycemia, while the others investigate effects on spatial abilities, discuss the possession of current driving licences by individuals with recurrent severe hypoglycemia and evaluate the neuropsychological impact of diabetes.

Early warning of hypoglycemia

Patients with type 1 diabetes often have difficulty maintaining good glycemic control because of recurrent episodes of severe hypoglycemia. The risk of such episodes is greatly increased in individuals who are unable to detect the early symptoms of hypoglycemia. Automated devices that could detect the early signs of hypoglycemia would be of great benefit to these individuals.

Juhl et al. hypothesized that changes in electrical activity during hypoglycemia could be recorded on electroencephalograms (EEGs) and identified by an automated mathematical algorithm, in order to develop a hypoglycemia alarm.