Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Assessment of the frequency of hypoglycaemic episodes during daily monitoring of glucose in the subcutaneous water of women and men with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Methods: The study of daily dynamics of glucose has been performed with continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) Medtronik MINIMED company (USA). The study involved 162 patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. The patients were divided into two groups: group 1 – women with regular menstrual cycle (n=117) and group 2 – men (n=45). The groups were compared in mean age (29.14±7.56 years) and duration of type 1 diabetes mellitus (10.74±7.67 years).

Results: In the first group of women 53%, registered hidden hypoglycaemic episodes, and 47% were not observed (P<0.05). In the second group of men 69% has been registered hidden hypoglycaemic episodes, and 31% were not observed (P<0.01). As for the incidence of hidden hypoglycaemic episodes between the groups, the significant differences were not observed (in the first group – 53% and in the second group – 69%), P>0.05. Depending on the time of day, the incidence of hidden hypoglycaemic episodes (in the first group – 83% and in the second group – 75%) prevailed in comparison with explicit (in the first group – 17% and in the second group – 25%), P<0.001. The daytime incidence of hypoglycaemic episodes in the first group was 72%, in the second group was 85% in comparison with the incidence of night hypoglycaemic episodes (in the first group – 28% and in the second group – 15%), P<0.05.

Conclusions: i) Regardless of gender, the bulk of the cases occurred in hidden hypoglycaemic episodes compared with explicit ones. ii) The incidence of hidden day-time hypoglycaemic episodes was prevailed over the night incidence of hypoglycaemic episodes, regardless of gender. iii) The incidence of hidden hypoglycaemic episodes does not depend on gender.