Research Round Up

Research Round Up

Diabetic Hypoglycemia January 2010, Volume 2, Issue 3: page 12-16

Impaired awareness of hypoglycemia in older people with type 2 diabetes

Hypoglycemia awareness may be reduced in older people. Bremer et al suggest that in people with type 2 diabetes, subjective unawareness of hypoglycemia does not depend upon altered neuroendocrine counter-regulation, and may contribute to the increased risk of severe hypoglycemia in older people with diabetes.

The authors investigated hormonal, symptomatic, and cognitive responses to hypoglycemia using a glucose clamp (blood glucose 2.8 mmol/l for 30 minutes) in 13 people with type 2 diabetes aged 65 or more, and in 13 people with type 2 diabetes aged between 39 and 64 years. They observed no differences in the counter-regulatory hormonal responses to hypoglycemia between the two groups.