While low blood glucose, or hypoglycemia, is commonly cited as a complication of intensive diabetes therapy, just how much of a problem is it? Researchers at Emory School of Medicine studied 1055 patients with type 2 diabetes to find that answer and also to see whether there were risk factors that could predict who would be more likely to have hypoglycemic episodes.

They found the prevalence of mild hypoglycemic symptoms to be:

• 12% in people treated with diet alone
• 16% in those using oral anti-diabetes drugs
• 30% in those using insulin

They detected severe hypoglycemia in only 5 patients, all on insulin.

They concluded that mild hypoglycemia is indeed common in patients with type 2 diabetes undergoing aggressive diabetes management. It was more common in those who were on insulin, had a lower HbA1c at follow-up, were younger, and had reported episodes of hypoglycemia at the beginning of the study.

They stressed that concerns about hypoglycemia should not prevent efforts to achieve tight glucose control in most patients.

Related information: More information about hypoglycemia