Prevalence of self-reported symptoms attributed to hypoglycaemia within a general female population of the UK

ObjectiveTo investigate the prevalence of symptoms attributed to hypoglycaemia that are reported by a general female population of the UK.MethodA 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.ResultsOne 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).ConclusionMore 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.