Abdinasir Wako, Saba Belay, Yeweyenhareg Feleke and Tedla Kebede
Background: Hypoglycemia poses a barrier to optimum diabetes management especially among patients taking insulin therapy. However little is known about the magnitude and effect of hypoglycemia among diabetic patients in Ethiopia.
Methods: A Cross-sectional study was conducted on diabetic patients who were above 14 years of age and attending National Diabetic referral clinic at Tikur Anbesa Specialized Hospital, between June and August 2016.
Results: The study involved 562 diabetic patients (194 T1DM and 368 T2DM). Previous episode of hypoglycemia was experienced by 61.2% (344) of the patients. Hypoglycemia was reported by 88% T1DM and 69% of insulin treated T2DM .There were 523 episodes of hypoglycemia reported by 186(33.1%) of the patients in the last month, out of which 40(5.9%) episodes were sever hypoglycemia reported by 26 (14%) of the patients. Female gender, higher BMI, low educational status and higher FBS were associated with higher reported incident of previous hypoglycemia (p<0.05). Although majority of the patients were on Insulin 381 (67.8%), FBS above 130mg/dl was recorded in 65% (363) of the patients. About 63.3 % patients reported that their hypoglycemia was precipitated by delayed meal. Out of the participant 152(44.2%) were unaware, 94(27.4%) had impaired awareness and only 98(28.4%) were fully aware of their hypoglycemic episodes.
Conclusion: Hypoglycemia was experienced by the majority of diabetic patients involved in this study. Notably, the rate recorded among insulin treated T2DM patients was significantly higher than those on OHA alone. The study also revealed higher rate of sever hypoglycemic incidents in our patients. Continuous health education on SMBG practice and management of hypoglycemia is needed among diabetic patients in Ethiopia.