Propranolol in Treating Hypoglycemia Unawareness

Summary

Impaired awareness of hypoglycemia is common in type 1 diabetes (T1DM) patients. Impaired hypoglycemia awareness increases severe hypoglycemia risk by six-fold. Severe hypoglycemia compromises quality of life and can potentially cause death. The long-term goal of this pilot study is to lead to the development of novel therapeutic approaches to improve hypoglycemia awareness and thus prevent severe hypoglycemia development in T1DM population with impaired awareness of hypoglycemia. It is hypothesized that propranolol will improve hypoglycemia recognition in T1DM. The specific aims of the study are to determine whether propranolol treatment improves subjects' recognition of hypoglycemic episodes, and improves hypoglycemic awareness scores; whether propranolol favorably increases hypoglycemia blood glucose nadir, decreases onset-to-treatment/recovery time (i.e. hypoglycemia duration), and reduces hypoglycemia/severe hypoglycemia frequency; and, whether propranolol reduces fear of hypoglycemia and improves overall blood glucose control.

Timeline

Start

2017-10-19

Primary completion

2019-12-19

Completion

2019-12-19

Publications

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