Gingras V, et al. - The researchers undertook this study to investigate the effect of current recommended treatment of mild-to-moderate hypoglycemia in type 1 diabetes (T1D) participants and factors correlated with treatment effectiveness. The outcomes indicated the possibility that in T1D patients treated with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII), 16 grams of carbohydrates could be insufficient to treat a large proportion of hypoglycemia episodes. Factors affecting treatment effectiveness ought to be examined.

Methods

• Using CSII, the researchers performed a secondary analysis from 3 observational inpatient studies with a standardized and supervised treatment (16 g carbohydrates) of hypoglycemia (< 3.3 mmol/L with symptoms or < 3.0 mmol/L without symptom) in participants (47 adults–10 adolescents) with T1D.

Results

• A total of 48 hypoglycemia episodes were observed in 27 participants, who were treated by a single intake of 16 g of carbohydrates.
• In this study, time required for normoglycemia recovery was 19.5 ± 12.0 min.
• Following treatment, the rise in plasma glucose was 0.85 ± 0.66 mmol/L in 15 min.
• Fifteen-min post-treatment, 18 episodes (38%) were resolved (> 4.0 mmol/L).
• Findings revealed that glycemia at the time of treatment (< 3.2 mmol/L; p < 0.001) and a higher proportion of total daily insulin from basal doses (p=0.03) were correlated with a slower post-treatment plasma glucose rise.