Introduction: Fear of hypoglycemia (FOH) is a phenomenon that affects people with diabetes experiencing hypoglycemia. On the one hand, FOH is an adaptive mechanism that helps to protect patients from hypoglycemia and its consequences. On the other hand, the non-normative level of FOH causes anxiety and tension, disturbs normal functioning, and makes normoglycemia maintenance difficult.
Objective:The main objective of this review was to describe factors influencing FOH and methods of measurement of FOH levels. Moreover, we highlighted the impact of the new technologies used in diabetes therapy on FOH and different therapeutic possibilities helping patients cope with excessive levels of FOH. We also presented clinical cases of patients with high FOH levels met in clinical practice and discussed methods to better diagnose and assist people with this kind of problem.
Methods:We searched for studies and articles via PubMed using the keywords fear of hypoglycemia, diabetes, and hypoglycemia. From screened documents identified from literature search, 67 articles were included in our review.
Results:We divided results from literature screening into five parts: fear of hypoglycemia and hypoglycemia definition, risk factors for the FOH, methods of measuring levels of FOH, therapies for the FOH, and modern technologies. We also described clinical examples of abnormal fear of hypoglycemia in patients.
Conclusion:The review highlights the importance of taking into consideration fear of hypoglycemia phenomenon in diabetic patients in everyday clinical practice.
K E Y W O R D Sanxiety, diabetes, fear of hypoglycemia, hypoglycemia
INTRODUCTIONAnxiety disorders are mental disorders that are not caused by organic injury to the central nervous system, and their symptoms relate mainly to emotional processes. These disorders might be rooted in past experiences that trigger anxiety despite the absence of actual threat at a certain moment (Kępiński, 2020). It is an anticipatory reaction to aThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract-The purpose of this study was to assess the concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) in obese type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) patients and its association with macrovascular and microvascular complications. The study group consisted of 80 obese DM2 patients, including 20 macrovascular, 20 microvascular, 20 both macrovascular and microvascular, and 20 with no complications patients. The control group comprised 40 normoglycemic subjects-20 obese and 20 of normal body weight. Highly sensitive CRP and metabolic control parameters were assessed. CRP levels in obese diabetes subgroups and normoglycemic obese were similar and significantly higher than those in nonobese controls. No correlation was found between CRP and diabetes control parameters. There was a strong positive correlation between CRP level and body mass index in all groups. A multivariate analysis showed that DM2 and obesity are independent factors increasing CRP levels. Increased concentration of CRP in obese DM2 patients is related to obesity and diabetes itself. The lack of association between CRP and vascular complications remains unclear.
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