Eighty Percent of Type 2s on Insulin Suffer Hypos

The Global Attitudes of Patients and Physicians survey found that four out of five people with type 2 diabetes who take insulin to help control their condition have experienced self-treated hypoglycemia with 36% experiencing an episode within the last month. Of these, 46% reported increasing blood glucose monitoring as a result of their last episode and more than 10% made changes to their long-acting insulin regime. Additionally, 16% of the patients said they did not stick to their insulin plan, while 14% deliberately kept their blood sugar at a higher than recommended level in order to prevent nocturnal hypoglycemia or night time hypos. Although respondents said they recognized the clinical consequences of non-adherence, nearly half (48%) admitted to having missed a dose of basal insulin altogether, 51% said they had mistimed a basal dose by more than two hours and 38% said they had reduced a dose. EASD, Berlin, Germany Oct 2012