Low level of sugar in blood can explain 'Dead-In-Bed' syndrome

April 24, 2014  17:48

Low levels of sugar in blood -- known as hypoglycemia -- in diabetes patients may cause potentially dangerous changes in heart rate, according to a small new study.

This study's findings may help explain why a large-scale study found that very tight control of blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes led to higher-than-expected death rates, Newsmax Health reported.

It may also help explain why some otherwise healthy people with type 1 diabetes die during their sleep -- sometimes called "dead-in-bed syndrome" -- without an apparent cause, researchers say.

"We found that hypoglycemia was fairly common and that nocturnal episodes in particular were generally marked by a pattern whereby glucose levels dropped to low levels for some hours during which patients slept," said Dr. Simon Heller, senior study author and a professor of clinical diabetes and honorary consultant physician at the University of Sheffield, in England.

Low blood sugar levels are not uncommon in people with diabetes, a disease that can produce dangerously high blood sugar levels. That's because the very treatments that can help prevent high blood sugar levels -- and the serious complications that accompany long-term high blood sugar levels -- can cause blood sugar levels to drop too low.

Although some oral diabetes medications can cause low blood sugar levels, the most common treatment to drop blood sugar levels too low is insulin. Insulin is a naturally occurring hormone that helps usher sugar into cells to be used as fuel.

The study included 25 people with type 2 diabetes who had a known risk of heart disease. Their average age was 64 years. They were all being treated with insulin, and had been on insulin therapy for at least four years.

All of the study volunteers were monitored with a continuous glucose monitor for five days, as well as a 12-lead Holter monitor that captured heart activity. Both of these devices are portable, which allowed the study volunteers to carry on with normal daily activities.

Overall, the researchers recorded 1,258 hours of time with normal blood sugar levels, 65 hours with high blood sugar levels and 134 hours of low blood sugar levels. Low blood sugar was defined as a blood sugar of less than 63 milligrams per deciliter. These low blood sugar levels often went unrecognized, according to the study.

The risk of a slow heart rate was eight times higher when blood sugar was low at night compared to when it was normal. Slow heart rates didn't occur during the day, according to the study. Other types of abnormal heartbeats (arrhythmias) were also significantly higher at night when blood sugar was low compared to when blood sugar was normal.

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