Prevalence of self-reported symptoms attributed to hypoglycaemia within a general female population of the UK.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prevalence of symptoms attributed to hypoglycaemia that are reported by a general female population of the UK.


METHODS
A health and well-being questionnaire, including questions relating to symptoms of low blood 'sugar', medical history and anthropometry, was administered by post to 2000 randomly selected women (17-50 years) in Nottinghamshire. To avoid biasing responses, participants were not made aware of the specific focus of the study.


RESULTS
One thousand one hundred and thirty-six women returned the questionnaire (56.8% response rate). After exclusions, 37.9% of respondents reported symptoms that they attributed to hypoglycaemia, with a median of four episodes reported per month. A significant variation in the reporting of symptoms was found across body mass index (BMI) categories, with the highest prevalence of symptomatic subjects being found at the lowest BMI range (P<.05).


CONCLUSIONS
More than a third of women in the UK report experiencing symptoms that they attribute to hypoglycaemia. Body mass index appears to be related to the experiencing of symptoms.
School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK. liz.simpson@nottingham.ac.uk
Elizabeth J
EJ
Simpson
Michelle
M
Holdsworth
Ian A
IA
Macdonald
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007003:Hypoglycemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires