Prediction of nocturnal hypoglycemia unawareness by fasting glucose levels or post-breakfast glucose fluctuations in patients with type 1 diabetes receiving insulin degludec: A pilot study

GLU: a software package for analysing continuously measured glucose levels in epidemiology

Continuous glucose monitors (CGM) record interstitial glucose levels 'continuously', producing a sequence of measurements for each participant (e.g. the average glucose level every 5 min over several days, both day and night). To analyse these data, researchers tend to derive summary variables such as the area under the curve (AUC), to then use in subsequent analyses. To date, a lack of consistency and transparency of precise definitions used for these summary variables has hindered interpretation, replication and comparison of results across studies. We present GLU, an open-source software package for deriving a consistent set of summary variables from CGM data. GLU performs quality control of each CGM sample (e.g. addressing missing data), derives a diverse set of summary variables (e.g. AUC and proportion of time spent in hypo-, normo- and hyper- glycaemic levels) covering six broad domains, and outputs these (with quality control information) to the user. GLU is implemented in R and is available on GitHub at https://github.com/MRCIEU/GLU. Git tag v0.2 corresponds to the version presented here.

Fear of hypoglycemia in adults with diabetes mellitus switching to treatment with IDegAsp co-formulation to examine real-world setting: an observational study (The HATICE study)

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the clinical results of insulin degludec/aspart (IDEgAsp) therapy and its effect on the fear of hypoglycemia.

METHODS

A prospective observational study has been conducted through surveys of 36 patients using insulin because of type 2 diabetes mellitus who initiated treatment with IDegAsp switching from other insulins. Patients, 18-75 years old, were recruited to the study, consecutively. Participants' age, gender, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), daily insulin dose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), hypoglycemia rate, hypoglycemia fear survey (HFS) were recorded at the beginning of the study. By the end of 12th month, data was re-measured and compared with each other.

RESULTS

HbA1c was declined by mean of -1.59% (95% CI -1.06 to -2.12, p<0.001). There was also a significant decrease in mean, daily insulin dose, weight and BMI values of patients via IDegAsp. While there was an increase in the amount of dipeptidyl peptidase 4-inhibitors (DPP4-i) and sodium-glucose co-transporter 2-inhibitors (SGLT2-i), there was a decrease in daily injection frequency. There was also a significant decrease in the median values of monthly hypoglycemia rate (from 2.0 to 1.0, p<0.001) and the entire HFS scores (HFS-T: from 1.09 to 0.73, p<0.001; HFS-B: from 0.83 to 0.60, p<0.001; HFS-W: from 1.33 to 0.88, p<0.001). There was a strong positive correlation between ΔHFS-B and daily injection frequency (Rho: 0.398; P: 0.016).

CONCLUSIONS

IDegAsp co-formulation, combined with DPP4-i and/or SGLT2-i, can provide usefulness in terms of rates of hypoglycemia, reduced HbA1c, less injection administration, and decreased the fear of hypoglycemia in diabetics.

Is it possible to predict the onset of nocturnal asymptomatic hypoglycemia in patients with type 1 diabetes receiving insulin degludec? Potential role of previous day and next morning glucose values

AIMS/INTRODUCTION

To determine whether the occurrence of nocturnal asymptomatic, serious, clinically important hypoglycemia (NSH) could be predicted based on glucose values on the previous day and the following morning of the day of onset.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study examined patients with type 1 diabetes who underwent continuous glucose monitoring assessments and received insulin degludec. NSH was defined as glucose level <54 mg/dL detected between 24.00 and 06.00 hours. The participants were evaluated to determine the following: (i) glucose level at bedtime (24.00 hours) on the previous day (BG); (ii) fasting glucose level (FG); and (iii) the range of post-breakfast glucose elevation. The patients were divided into those with NSH and those without, and compared using t-tests. Optimal cut-off values for relevant parameters for predicting NSH were determined using receiver operating characteristic analysis.

RESULTS

The study included a total of 31 patients with type 1 diabetes (mean glycated hemoglobin value 7.8 ± 0.7%). NSH occurred in eight patients (26%). BG and FG were significantly lower in those with NSH than in those without (P = 0.044, P < 0.001). The range of post-breakfast glucose elevation was significantly greater in those with NSH than in those without. The cut-off glucose values for predicting NSH were as follows: BG = 90 mg/dL (sensitivity 0.83/specificity 0.75/area under the curve 0.79, P = 0.017) and FG = 69 mg/dL (0.83/0.75/0.86, P = 0.003).

CONCLUSIONS

The results showed that in patients with type 1 diabetes receiving insulin degludec, BG <90 mg/dL and FG <69 mg/dL had an approximately 80% probability of predicting the occurrence of NSH.