This research is critically important to people with Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, whose bodies cannot produce insulin, which controls the level of sugar in the blood. Because their bodies lack insulin, people with diabetes must carefully monitor their blood sugar levels, and inject themselves with insulin to keep their blood sugar levels under control. Unfortunately, insulin treatments can increase the frequency and severity of hypoglycemia, especially among children with diabetes, even when patients follow the most careful regimen of monitoring and injections. Moreover, people with diabetes commonly lose their natural ability to detect hypoglycemia through feeling hungry, lightheaded, and other typical warning symptoms. As a result, they may be unaware when their blood sugar has dropped to dangerously low levels.
Severe hypoglycemia can damage the brain and the rest of the central nervous system.
Researchers have also uncovered disturbing evidence that repeated bouts of insulin-induced hypoglycemia, or diabetes itself, can harm the brain over time. To develop better ways to prevent hypoglycemia and its consequences, scientists must learn more about exactly how the body monitors and regulates blood sugar levels and how hypoglycemia acts to impair brain function. They are doing three basic research studies, each using a different advanced technology, to improve their understanding of how hypoglycemia affects the brain, and how these effects are influenced by diabetes, insulin therapy, and age. Dr. Robert Sherwin, M.D., C.N.H. Long Professor of Medicine at Yale is the overall Director of the new Center. Margaret Grey, Ph.D., Independence Foundation Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Yale School of Nursing Patients and parents report that fear of hypoglycemia and the need for constant monitoring are the most difficult aspects of caring for diabetes in children and adolescents, especially because young patients are most vulnerable while they are sleeping.