Hypoglycemic symptoms in the absence of diabetes: Pilot evidence of clinical hypoglycemia in young women

• Published in: Journal of clinical & translational endocrinology 2019-12, Vol.18, p.100202-100202, Article 100202
• Main Authors: Mongraw-Chaffin, Morgana, Beavers, Daniel P., McClain, Donald A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Continuous glucose monitor; Hypoglycemia; Hypoglycemic symptoms; Obesity; Research Paper
• ISSN: 2214-6237; 2214-6237
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcte.2019.100202

•Healthy non-diabetic adults who report hypoglycemic symptoms may experience frequent clinically significant hypoglycemia.•This condition may complete criteria for Whipple’s Triad.•Hypoglycemic symptoms encourage potentially obesogenic compensatory behaviors.•Hypoglycemic symptoms in the absence of diabetes remains understudied. Clinical visits of non-diabetic patients reporting hypoglycemic symptoms are common in endocrinology practices, but remain understudied and lack clinical definition and evidence-based recommendations for diagnosis or treatment. Our goal was to pilot test the concordance of hypoglycemic symptoms with low glucose values in young non-diabetic individuals. We recruited eight individuals who reported regularly experiencing symptoms consistent with hypoglycemia to wear a blinded Dexcom continuous glucose monitor and report symptoms for seven days. We excluded individuals with diabetes or other known causes of hypoglycemia or similar symptoms. Participants were all women with an average age of 29 years. 25% were African American and 25% had obesity. All participants experienced glucose values ≤ 70 mg/dL and half (4/8) experienced glucose ≤ 54 mg/dL for at least 15 min or 3 consecutive readings. Average time between last meal and reported symptoms was 4.4 h. Lower glucose values were significantly associated with higher odds of experiencing hypoglycemic symptoms 1.15 (CI: 1.07–1.24) for every −5mg/dL, (p