Identification of Type I Diabetic Patients at Increased Risk for Hypoglycemia during Intensive Therapy

Abstract
During intravenous insulin infusions (40 mU per kilogram of body weight per hour for up to 100 minutes), 9 of 22 patients with insulin-requiring diabetes mellitus had neurologic signs or symptoms of hypoglycemia, plasma glucose concentrations that were below 35 mg per deciliter (1.9 mmol per liter) and continued to decline, or both. This inadequate glucose counterregulation resulted from the combined effect of deficient glucagon and epinephrine responses.