Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Hypoglycaemia is a common and serious complication of diabetes treatment especially in patients who do not have knowledge of the condition and personal glucose metres. Patients with very good drug compliance are at greater risk of developing hypoglycaemia. Sometimes hypoglycaemia among patients on insulin therapy could be symptomatic or asymptomatic. The present study is aimed at measuring the determinants and predictors of hypoglycaemia among diabetes patients.

Methods: The study was carried out at the endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism unit of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso. Questionnaires were served to the patients after informed consent were gotten. The data were analyzed using SPSS (version 21.0). A total of 113 patients were recruited into the study.

Results: About 59.3% of the respondents were females and the mean age of the respondents was 60.94±11.95 years. The prevalent occupation of the respondents was trading (33.6%) and civil service (31.9%). The average FBS and diabetes duration were 9.05±3.48 mMol/L and 5.00±4.43 years respectively. Eighty-one (71.7%) have experienced hypoglycaemia. The percentage of participants who have experienced hypoglycaemia who know the following symptoms (sweatiness, shivering, hunger, weakness, palpitations, anxiety, confusion, visual disruption, light-headedness, convulsion, headache, inability to concentrate, aggression and loss of consciousness) are 74.1%, 76.5%, 72.8%, 69.1%, 58.0%, 39.5%, 43.2%, 50.6%, 46.9%, 37.0%, 49.4%, 40.7%, 34.6%, 56.8%.

Conclusion: Appropriate authorities should look into increasing awareness of the predictors of hypoglycaemia among the diabetes patients. Self-monitoring of blood glucose should also be encouraged among the patients so as to prevent the chronic effects of hypoglycaemia.