Criteria

Your Organisational Guidance

ebpracticenet urges you to prioritise the following organisational guidance:

Beleid bij acute hypoglykemie met verminderd bewustzijnPublished by: Werkgroep Ontwikkeling Richtlijnen Eerste Lijn (Worel)Last published: 2022La prise en charge de l’hypoglycémie aiguë chez un patient présentant une diminution de la consciencePublished by: Groupe de Travail Développement de recommmandations de première ligneLast published: 2022

Severity of hypoglycaemia​[1][3]​​[4][5]​​​​​​

Level 3 (severe)

No defined blood glucose.​​ Severe event characterised by altered mental and/or physical status requiring assistance for treatment of hypoglycaemia.

Level 2 (clinically significant; also referred to as clinically important or serious)

Blood glucose <3.0 mmol/L (<54 mg/dL).​​​ This is usually the threshold at which neuroglycopenic symptoms occur. In addition, be aware that a patient with impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia may not present with typical signs and symptoms of hypoglycaemia.

Level 1 (alert value)

Blood glucose <3.9 mmol/L (<70 mg/dL) and ≥3.0 mmol/L (≥54 mg/dL).​​​ This value should alert the patient to the possibility of developing level 2 hypoglycaemia and can be used as a threshold to take appropriate actions to prevent this (e.g., carbohydrate ingestion, adjusting drug treatment).​​​

Types of hypoglycaemia

A 2013 workgroup of the American Diabetes Association and the Endocrine Society proposed a set of criteria for the types of hypoglycaemia, based on presence of symptoms and blood glucose:[2]

  • Documented symptomatic hypoglycaemia: symptoms of hypoglycaemia occur and measured blood glucose is <3.9 mmol/L (<70 mg/dL) .

  • Asymptomatic hypoglycaemia: symptoms of hypoglycaemia do not occur but measured blood glucose is <3.9 mmol/L (<70 mg/dL) .

  • Probable symptomatic hypoglycaemia: symptoms of hypoglycaemia occur. Blood glucose is not measured but is presumed to be <3.9 mmol/L (<70 mg/dL).

  • Pseudo-hypoglycaemia: symptoms of hypoglycaemia occur but measured blood glucose is not <3.9 mmol/L (<70 mg/dL), but is approaching that level.

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