The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of hypoglycemia according to severity and time of onset on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a Canadian population.
Time trade-off (TTO) methodology was used to estimate health utilities associated with hypoglycemic events in a representative sample of the Canadian population. A global analysis conducted in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Sweden has been published. The present Canadian analysis focuses on 3 populations: general, type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Using a web-based survey, participants (>18 years) assessed the utility of 13 different health states (severe, non-severe, daytime and nocturnal hypoglycemia at different frequencies) using a scale from 1 (perfect health) to 0 (death). The average disutility value for each type of event was calculated.
Of 2258 participants, 1696 completers were included in the analysis. A non-severe nocturnal hypoglycemic event was associated with a significantly greater disutility than a non-severe daytime event (-0.0076 vs. -0.0056, respectively; p=0.05), while there was no statistically significant difference between severe nocturnal and severe daytime events (-0.0616 vs. -0.0592; p=0.76). Severe hypoglycemia was associated with greater disutility than non-severe hypoglycemia (p