Incidence and risk factors of hypoglycemia among Type 2 diabetic patients in a South Indian hospital

Abstract Aim The study was aimed at assessing the cumulative incidence of hypoglycemia and precipitating risk factors among type 2 diabetes mellitus in-patients of a tertiary care hospital in South India. Methods The prospective cross sectional study spanning 14 months was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in Kerala. All T2DM patients who were administered any form of insulin during the length of hospital stay was monitored for assessing the hypoglycemic episodes. Any patient with a GRBS value less than 70 mg/dL was defined to be hypoglycemic as per the ADA guidelines. The statistical analysis of collected data was performed using SPSS 18 for windows version. Results Of the 1650 subjects enrolled in the study, 204 subjects developed hypoglycemia. The sample composed of 60.8% females and 39.2% males and the difference was significant with p  = 0.02. A significant positive correlation was observed between HbA1c values and GRBS value, with a 2 tailed Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.027. On stratifying as per the modality of insulin dose prescribed, 72.5% of the hypoglycemic patients were found to have been administered fixed dose insulin. Conclusion The cumulative incidence of institutional hypoglycemia among type 2 diabetic inpatients was gauged as 12.36%; among which, 26.96% had asymptomatic episodes.