Published in:
Open Access
20-02-2024 | Hypoglycemia | Original Article
Counterregulatory hormone and symptom responses to hypoglycaemia in people with type 1 diabetes, insulin-treated type 2 diabetes or without diabetes: the Hypo-RESOLVE hypoglycaemic clamp study
Authors:
Therese W. Fabricius, Clementine E. M. Verhulst, Peter L. Kristensen, Jens J. Holst, Cees J. Tack, Rory J. McCrimmon, Simon R. Heller, Mark L. Evans, Bastiaan E. de Galan, Ulrik Pedersen-Bjergaard, the Hypo-RESOLVE consortium
Published in:
Acta Diabetologica
|
Issue 5/2024
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Abstract
Aim
The sympathetic nervous and hormonal counterregulatory responses to hypoglycaemia differ between people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes and may change along the course of diabetes, but have not been directly compared. We aimed to compare counterregulatory hormone and symptom responses to hypoglycaemia between people with type 1 diabetes, insulin-treated type 2 diabetes and controls without diabetes, using a standardised hyperinsulinaemic-hypoglycaemic clamp.
Materials
We included 47 people with type 1 diabetes, 15 with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes, and 32 controls without diabetes. Controls were matched according to age and sex to the people with type 1 diabetes or with type 2 diabetes. All participants underwent a hyperinsulinaemic–euglycaemic-(5.2 ± 0.4 mmol/L)-hypoglycaemic-(2.8 ± 0.13 mmol/L)-clamp.
Results
The glucagon response was lower in people with type 1 diabetes (9.4 ± 0.8 pmol/L, 8.0 [7.0–10.0]) compared to type 2 diabetes (23.7 ± 3.7 pmol/L, 18.0 [12.0–28.0], p < 0.001) and controls (30.6 ± 4.7, 25.5 [17.8–35.8] pmol/L, p < 0.001). The adrenaline response was lower in type 1 diabetes (1.7 ± 0.2, 1.6 [1.3–5.2] nmol/L) compared to type 2 diabetes (3.4 ± 0.7, 2.6 [1.3–5.2] nmol/L, p = 0.001) and controls (2.7 ± 0.4, 2.8 [1.4–3.9] nmol/L, p = 0.012). Growth hormone was lower in people with type 2 diabetes than in type 1 diabetes, at baseline (3.4 ± 1.6 vs 7.7 ± 1.3 mU/L, p = 0.042) and during hypoglycaemia (24.7 ± 7.1 vs 62.4 ± 5.8 mU/L, p = 0.001). People with 1 diabetes had lower overall symptom responses than people with type 2 diabetes (45.3 ± 2.7 vs 58.7 ± 6.4, p = 0.018), driven by a lower neuroglycopenic score (27.4 ± 1.8 vs 36.7 ± 4.2, p = 0.012).
Conclusion
Acute counterregulatory hormone and symptom responses to experimental hypoglycaemia are lower in people with type 1 diabetes than in those with long-standing insulin-treated type 2 diabetes and controls.