Constant threat of 'hypos' takes heavy toll on people with diabetes
September 2020

The Hypo-RESOLVE project wants to single out the risk factors for severe hypoglycaemic episodes, where diabetes patients’ blood sugar levels fall to dangerously low levels. ###Although there are certain widely recognised risk factors for hypoglycaemia like exercise, skipped meals or insulin dosing errors, hypoglycaemic episodes very often also occur quite unexpectedly. If a ‘hypo’ occurs, you have to act quickly to bring your glucose levels back to normal and make sure you’re not a threat to yourself.

Needless to say, this often interferes directly with daily activities. Episodes can even occur without causing any symptoms, and sometimes recovery is spontaneous. Not uncommonly, a partner or family member recognises it before the patient does. ‘In the long term,’ says Hypo-RESOLVE coordinator Bastiaan de Galan of the Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, ‘hypo events can cause fear and avoidant behaviour, which makes overall glucose control even more difficult. Severe episodes can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, although we don’t know yet whether this relation is causal.’

The Hypo-RESOLVE project wants to find out more about the mechanisms of hypoglycaemic episodes beyond what is already known, including their effect on the psychosocial well-being of people who experience them. In an interview with the IMI Programme office, Bastiaan de Galan and Jill Carlton of the University of Sheffield describe how the project is working to tackle the challenge of hypoglycaemic episodes.

Find out more

• Read the interview in full