Iatrogenic hypoglycemia as a cause of hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure in IDDM. A vicious cycle

Three hypoglycemia-associated clinical syndromes in people with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM)--defective glucose counterregulation, hypoglycemia unawareness, and elevated glycemic thresholds for symptoms and activation of counterregulatory systems during effective intensive therapy--have much in common. They segregate together, are associated with increased frequency of severe iatrogenic hypoglycemia, and share several pathophysiological features, including reduced autonomic nervous system responses to a given degree of hypoglycemia. In the setting of reduced glucagon responses, the reduced adrenomedullary epinephrine responses play a key role in the pathogenesis of iatrogenic hypoglycemia in affected patients. Thus, these syndromes are examples of hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure in IDDM, a disorder distinct from classical diabetic autonomic neuropathy. The pathogenesis of hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure is not known, need not be the same in all three syndromes, and could be multifactorial even in a given syndrome. The recent finding that short-term antecedent hypoglycemia results in reduced symptomatic and autonomic (including adrenomedullary) responses to subsequent hypoglycemia in nondiabetic humans leads logically to the following hypothesis concerning one potential pathogenetic mechanism: recent antecedent iatrogenic hypoglycemia is a major cause of hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure in IDDM, and hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure, by reducing both symptoms of and defenses against developing hypoglycemia, results in recurrent severe hypoglycemia, thus creating a vicious cycle. If this hypothesis is confirmed, it will suggest strategies to reduce the frequency of iatrogenic hypoglycemia in people with IDDM.