Treatments for Diabetes

People with Type 1 diabetes experience around two episodes of mild hypoglycaemia per week.

Strachan in 2014[18] estimated the annual prevalence of severe hypoglycaemia at 30-40%.

While the oral hypoglycaemic agents used mainly for type 2 diabetes (metformin, thiolidinediones, sulphonylureas and meglitinides) rarely cause hypoglycaemia on their own, combination therapy increases this risk. Having that said, Sulphonylureas do carry an increased risk of hypoglycaemia above that of metformin. (Odds ration 3.73 versus 1.42) Furthermore due to its long duration of action the risk of recurrent hypoglycaemia persists for hours after the initial treatment.[19]

Patients with insulin treated type 2 diabetes are more likely to require hospital admission for severe hypoglycaemia than those with type 1 diabetes (30% versus 10% of episodes).[20]