Unreliability of reports of hypoglycaemia by diabetic patients

In those with diabetes the importance of hypoglycaemia as a cause of considerable illness and occasionally death has been increasingly recognised as patients have struggled to maintain tight control of their blood glucose concentration to prevent long term diabetic complications.1 Whether human insulin decreases the awareness of hypoglycaemia and increases severe hypoglycaemic episodes is debatable.2 The evidence has largely depended on patient recall, which may be uncertain when cerebral function is impaired during hypoglycaemia. We therefore measured the reliability of retrospective questionnaires by asking patients and their partners about hypoglycaemia. We questioned consecutive patients attending diabetic clinics in two hospitals over four weeks, including in the study only those with a partner or close relative at home. Patients completed a questionnaire in the …