The Burden of Hypoglycemia in Patients With Insulin-Treated Diabetes Mellitus in China: Analysis of Electronic Medical Records From 4 Tertiary Hospitals.

Background: Hypoglycemia is a common acute complication in patients with diabetes and markedly impacts on medical resource use.

Objectives: To make an initial assessment of the incidence of hypoglycemia and the associated utilization of medical resources and medical costs in insulin-treated patients with diabetes using medical records from 4 tertiary hospitals in China.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using electronic medical records from 4 tertiary hospitals in Beijing, Henan, and Guangzhou from 2012 to 2015. The targeted patients were those diagnosed with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes and treated with insulin. Diabetes was identified with International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision diagnosis codes. Hypoglycemia was identified based on glycemic value and the description of diagnosis. The incidence of hypoglycemia, medical resource utilization, and medical costs were analyzed. One-to-one propensity score matching was used to match age, sex, type of diabetes, and complications to patients with and without hypoglycemia and patients with severe and non-severe hypoglycemia, to compare their medical resource utilization and medical costs.

Results: A total of 14 044 patients (95.3% had type 2 diabetes and 93.7% with complications) were treated with insulin. There were 1930 patients who had outpatient visits and 310 patients who had inpatient visits owing to hypoglycemia. Incidences of hypoglycemia were 111.3 events per 100 patient-years for outpatient visits and 5.9 events per 100 patient-years for inpatient visits. Patients with hypoglycemia had more outpatient visits (8.09 vs 6.22 times/year, P < .05) and higher annual medical costs ($2147.4 vs $1426.8/person, P < .05) compared with patients without hypoglycemia. Among patients with hypoglycemia, those with severe hypoglycemia had more inpatient visits (2.06 vs 1.13 times/year, P < .05) and higher annual inpatient medical costs ($6204.0 vs $2017.9/person, P < .05) compared with patients with non-severe hypoglycemia.

Conclusion: The burden of hypoglycemia, especially severe hypoglycemia, is substantial and associated with increased use of medical resources and expenditures among the target population, which serves as a vital first glance at patients with insulin-treated diabetes in China overall.