Burden of Hypoglycemia in Insulin-Treated Patients With DM
Burden of Hypoglycemia in Insulin-Treated Patients With DM
Over the next half decade, additional detailed assessment is anticipated of fear of hypoglycemia and the major financial burden that it poses to healthcare systems worldwide. Given the predicted global escalation in the prevalence and burden of diabetes and associated complications, this information will be of paramount importance to healthcare payers and policy makers in the coming years. Currently, patients with insulin-treated diabetes appear to have great motivation to use, and major confidence in, SMBG using accurate BGMs that provide warnings of hypoglycemia. During the next 5 years, further quantification is expected of the marked extent to which broader use of such BGMs can reduce fear of hypoglycemia and overall healthcare costs associated with diabetes. While the present survey has some limitations, it provides an important insight from a real-world setting into the true extent, and fear, of hypoglycemia in patients with diabetes. We believe that the current study may influence the need for, and/or design of, future studies which address the potential for fear of hypoglycemia to increase diabetes-associated complications and significantly increase the emotional and economic burden of diabetes, thus influencing the future decisions of healthcare payers with regard to diabetes, BGM and SMBG spending.
Five-year View
Over the next half decade, additional detailed assessment is anticipated of fear of hypoglycemia and the major financial burden that it poses to healthcare systems worldwide. Given the predicted global escalation in the prevalence and burden of diabetes and associated complications, this information will be of paramount importance to healthcare payers and policy makers in the coming years. Currently, patients with insulin-treated diabetes appear to have great motivation to use, and major confidence in, SMBG using accurate BGMs that provide warnings of hypoglycemia. During the next 5 years, further quantification is expected of the marked extent to which broader use of such BGMs can reduce fear of hypoglycemia and overall healthcare costs associated with diabetes. While the present survey has some limitations, it provides an important insight from a real-world setting into the true extent, and fear, of hypoglycemia in patients with diabetes. We believe that the current study may influence the need for, and/or design of, future studies which address the potential for fear of hypoglycemia to increase diabetes-associated complications and significantly increase the emotional and economic burden of diabetes, thus influencing the future decisions of healthcare payers with regard to diabetes, BGM and SMBG spending.