Frequency of severe hypoglycaemia in type 1 and type 2 diabetes during conventional insulin therapy

To determine the frequency of severe hypoglycaemia during conventional insu lin therapy in juvenile-onset and adult-onset type 1 and in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), we retrospectively analysed the medical records of 165 Turk ish diabetic patients who have been treated with conventional insulin. Pati ents were divided into 3 subgroups with respect to the type of diabetes: 33 had juvenile-onset Type 1 DM, 18 had adult-onset type 1 DM, and 114 had ty pe 2 DM. The diabetic subgroups were found to be comparable with regard to mean frequency of severe hypoglycaemia (juvenile-onset type 1 DM: 0.20 epis ode . patient(-1) . year-1, adult-onset type 1 DM: 0.10 episode. patient(-1 ) . year(-1) type 2 DM: 0.15 episode . patient(-1) . year(-1)). Frequency o f severe hypoglycaemia necessitating in-hospital treatment was 0.05 episode . patient(-1) . year(-1) for all diabetic subgroups. The data clearly indi cate that the extent of the problem of severe hypoglycaemia during conventi onal insulin therapy in type 2 DM is comparable with both juvenile and adul t-onset forms of type 1 DM in Turkish diabetic population.