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Awareness about hypoglycemia among patients on insulin therapy in a tertiary care hospital: A cross-sectional study

Background: Diabetes is a chronic disease that requires continuous medical care and patient self-management education. For diabetic patients, hypoglycemia is a fact of life. Hypoglycemia is one of the most common acute complications in adolescents with diabetes in both type1 and type 2. Approximately 90% of all patients who receive insulin have experienced hypoglycemic episodes. Poor awareness among diabetics on hypoglycemic symptoms may lead to increased morbidity and mortality. 
 
Aims and Objectives: To study the awareness about symptoms, precipitating factors, and prevention of hypoglycemia among patients on insulin therapy. 
 
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done in a government tertiary care hospital. The study was conducted among diabetic patients who were on insulin therapy for at least 1 year. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used. The calculated sample size was 100. 
 
Results: Nearly 68.6% of the patients had faced at least one hypoglycemic attack. 65% were aware of at least three symptoms of hypoglycemia, but awareness was only 46% among illiterates compared to 86% of literates. 32% were unaware about the precipitating factors whereas 17% of the participants felt that the attacks were caused due to the wrong dosage therefore skipping medication or self-adjustment of dosage was mention as a preventing factor by them. 
 
Conclusion: Awareness of hypoglycemia was found to be average among participants. Diabetics on insulin therapy are more prone for hypoglycemia. Therefore knowing the awareness levels and perceptions is important. It may help to plan the necessary objectives of health education sessions 
among target population.