Editorial

Diabetic hypoglycemia and pregnancy

Professor Simon Heller of the Editorial Board

Diabetic Hypoglycemia January 2011, Volume 3, Issue 3: page 1-2

Despite overwhelming evidence that tight metabolic control can prevent diabetic complications, only a few individuals with type 1 diabetes sustain blood glucose levels close to normal or even achieve glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels in the recommended range. For many, the demands of modern insulin therapy lead them to maintain glycemic control at higher levels than their professional carers would wish. The one notable exception to this situation is during pregnancy, when most women strive for and often reach glucose targets that are close to normal throughout their pregnancy. This is a graphic illustration of the limitations of modern therapy – as the accompanying feature article makes clear, pregnancy is associated with a high risk for severe hypoglycemic episodes that can cause both severe morbidity and occasional mortality. However, as a real life model of tight glycemic control, diabetes in pregnancy also provides clinical information that might help us to develop approaches to reduce the risk of hypoglycemia more generally.