To study the prevalence of severe hypoglycaemia (SH) in relation to risk factors in Type 1 diabetic (T1 DM) patients over a period of 14 years.
We performed a cross-sectional survey of a cohort of 178 T1 DM patients registered at our out-patient clinic in 1984 to be repeated in 1998. An identical questionnaire was sent to the patients in the beginning of 1985 and 1999, respectively, regarding the problem of SH in the preceding year. Additional clinical data were obtained from the patients' medical records on insulin treatment, long-term complications, morbidity, and co-medication.
At follow up, the use of multiple insulin injection therapy had increased from 71% to 98% (P 50% over 14 years. A multiple logistic regression analysis of risk factors for SH explained less than 10% of the variance, implicating only unawareness of hypoglycaemia and HbA1c.