Factors Affecting Hypoglycemia Fear in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

Background Diabetes mellitus has many complications; hypoglycemia is one of them that is associated with severe signs and symptoms such as anxiety, psychosocial problems, and poor metabolic control. Objective This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting hypoglycemia fear in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods The present descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 360 patients with type 2 diabetes referred to Velayat Hospital in Qazvin City, Iran, in 2017. The eligible samples were recruited through a convenience sampling method. The data collection instruments were a demographic checklist and the Hypoglycemia Fear Survey-II scale. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive tests, t-test, one-way ANOVA, the Pearson correlation, and regression analysis. Findings The Mean±SD age of the patients was 58.5±14.3 years, and the majority of them were women (65.3%). The Mean±SD score of hypoglycemia fear was 22.07±8.6 which was significant in terms of gender (P=0.002), type of treatment (P<0.001), employment (P=0.05), and educational status (P=0.05). The results of single-variable regression showed that the type of treatment (P<0.001), long-term complications (P=0.002), and gender (P=0.002) were associated with hypoglycemia fear. Also, the results of simultaneous regression showed that the type of treatment was associated with hypoglycemia fear (P<0.001). Conclusion The results of this study showed that the type of treatment was the most effective factor in hypoglycemia fear. Using insulin to treat diabetes strongly affect the hypoglycemia fear; therefore, it is possible to reduce the hypoglycemia fear by appropriate patients’ instructions on how to inject and monitor insulin.