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The burden of hypoglycemia on healthcare utilization, costs, and quality of life among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients
Journal of Diabetes and its Complications, 06/15/2012
Williams SA et al. – Symptomatic hypoglycemia is a more significant burden among type 2 diabetes patients treated with antidiabetic drugs than is estimated by administrative claims data and needs to be considered when choosing therapy.
Methods- The authors used mail surveys, administrative claims data, and enrollment information from a sample of adult commercial health plan enrollees (n=813) with type 2 diabetes during a 12-month period.
- Patients' experience of hypoglycemia, its impact on patient perspectives and healthcare utilization were the outcomes evaluated.
- A greater percentage of patients in the antidiabetic with insulin cohort reported experiencing hypoglycemia compared with patients from sulfonylurea (SU) without insulin and non-SU without insulin cohorts (50% vs. 21% and 12%, respectively; p<0.01 for both comparisons).
- While 71% of the sample reported experiencing hypoglycemic symptoms with 28% confirmed by low blood glucose levels, only 10% of the patients had evidence of hypoglycemia event in the claims database.
- Patients with confirmed hypoglycemia had the highest Hypoglycemia Fear Survey behavior score (8) and worry subscale score (14).
- Significant differences were noted between the confirmed hypoglycemia and no hypoglycemia cohorts for the 12-item Short Form Health Survey's Mental Component Score (p<0.001) and Physical Component Score (p=0.002), and for the EQ-5D index (p<0.001).
- Diabetes-related annualized mean total healthcare costs were significantly higher for confirmed hypoglycemia vs. no hypoglycemia cohorts (p=0.004).