Healthcare utilisation, informal care utilisation and additional actions of patients experiencing hypoglycaemia in 4 weeks after baseline
| All (n=332) | T1DM (n=130) | T2DM (n=202) | |||||
| All (n=332) | All (n=130) | Patients with SH (n=13) | Patients with NSH (n=117)* | All (n=202) | Patients with SH (n=30) | Patients with NSH (n=172)* | |
| Patients indicated the following hypoglycaemic events (in the last 4 weeks)† | |||||||
| Event resulting in hospital admission, n (%) | 23 (7) | 3 (2) | 3 (23) | 0 (0) | 20 (10) | 20 (67) | 0 (0) |
| Times admitted, mean (SD) | 1.0 (0.0) | 1.0 (0.0) | 1.0 (0.0) | – | 1.0 (0.0) | 1.0 (0.0) | – |
| Admission length (days), mean (SD) | 1.1 (0.4) | 1.7 (1.2) | 1.7 (1.2) | – | 1.0 (0.0) | 1 (0.0) | – |
| Event requiring assistance from medical personnel but not requiring hospital admission, n (%) | 6 (2) | 1 (1) | 1 (8) | 0 (0) | 5 (2) | 5 (17) | 0 (0) |
| Number of episodes, mean (SD) | 1.0 (0.0) | 1.0 (0.0) | 1.0 (0.0) | – | 1.0 (0.0) | 1.0 (0.0) | – |
| Event requiring assistance from another person to administer carbohydrate and/or glucagon (informal care), n (%) | 24 (7) | 12 (9) | 12 (92) | 0 (0) | 12 (6) | 12 (40) | 0 (0) |
| Number of episodes, mean (SD) | 1.8 (1.3) | 1.5 (0.8) | 1.5 (0.8) | – | 2.2 (1.6) | 2.2 (1.6) | – |
| Event managed by the patient, n (%) | 322 (97) | 128 (98) | 12 (92) | 116 (99) | 194 (96) | 23 (77) | 171 (99) |
| Number of episodes, mean (SD) | 5.1 (5.2) | 8.6 (6.3) | 10.5 (8.1) | 8.5 (6.0) | 2.7 (2.4) | 2.0 (1.6) | 2.8 (2.5) |
| Event occurred at night, n (%) | 130 (39) | 66 (51) | 9 (69) | 57 (49) | 64 (32) | 12 (40) | 52 (30) |
| Number of episodes, mean (SD) | 2.1 (1.8) | 2.5 (2.2) | 3.3 (3.1) | 2.4 (2.1) | 1.6 (1.0) | 1.7 (1.2) | 1.6 (0.9) |
| Patients indicated the following actions (if they experienced a hypoglycaemic event in the last 4 weeks) | |||||||
| Addressed the hypoglycaemic event at next scheduled clinic visit, n (%) | 50 (15) | 27 (21) | 6 (46) | 21 (18) | 23 (11) | 6 (20) | 17 (10) |
| Attended additional clinical appointments with doctor/nurse, n (%) | 5 (2) | 2 (2) | 1 (8) | 1 (1) | 3 (1) | 1 (3) | 2 (1) |
| Number of extra appointments, mean (SD) | 1.7 (0.8) | 2.3 (0.9) | 3.0 (0.0) | 1.7 (0.0) | 1.2 (0.4) | 1.7 (0.0) | 1.0 (0.0) |
| Rescheduled clinic appointment for an earlier time, n (%) | 1 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 (8) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Made additional telephone contacts with doctor/nurse, n (%) | 26 (8) | 9 (7) | 5 (38) | 4 (3) | 17 (8) | 5 (17) | 12 (7) |
| Number of telephone contacts, mean (SD) | 2.0 (1.2) | 2.2 (1.3) | 2.6 (1.5) | 1.8 (1.0) | 1.9 (1.1) | 1.6 (0.5) | 2.0 (1.3) |
| Consulted another healthcare professional, n (%) | 2 (1) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) |
| Did not consult a doctor/nurse/healthcare professional, n (%) | 227 (68) | 91 (70) | 5 (38) | 86 (74) | 136 (67) | 11 (37) | 125 (73) |
| Increased the quantity of carbohydrates or number of snacks in diet, n (%) | 86 (26) | 35 (27) | 3 (23) | 32 (27) | 51 (25) | 6 (20) | 45 (26) |
| Reduced the amount of sport or physical exercise, n (%) | 24 (7) | 11 (8) | 3 (23) | 8 (7) | 13 (6) | 1 (3) | 12 (7) |
| Decreased insulin dose, n (%) | 96 (29) | 51 (39) | 7 (54) | 44 (38) | 45 (22) | 7 (23) | 38 (22) |
| Skipped insulin dose, n (%) | 49 (15) | 21 (16) | 2 (15) | 19 (16) | 28 (14) | 7 (23) | 21 (12) |
| Increased the number of blood glucose checks per day, n (%) | 176 (53) | 76 (58) | 8 (62) | 68 (58) | 100 (50) | 17 (57) | 83 (48) |
| Number of extra checks, mean (SD) | 2.0 (0.7) | 1.9 (0.8) | 2.1 (0.8) | 1.9 (0.8) | 2.0 (0.7) | 2.2 (0.8) | 2.0 (0.7) |
| Number of days, mean (SD) | 4.3 (5.1) | 5.5 (4.1) | 5.5 (3.9) | 5.5 (4.2) | 3.4 (5.5) | 5.9 (8.9) | 2.9 (4.5) |
| Made any other changes to diabetes treatment, n (%) | 38 (11) | 21 (16) | 3 (23) | 18 (15) | 17 (8) | 3 (10) | 14 (8) |
↵*Note that these categories include patients with (a) non-severe event(s) only (and two patients (1 T1DM patient and 1 T2DM patient) with a nocturnal event only).
†Note that the percentages do not count to 100%, because patients can have multiple hypoglycaemic events.
NSH, non-severe hypoglycaemia; SH, severe hypoglycaemia; T1DM, type 1 diabetes; T2DM, type 2 diabetes.