Validation of the hypoglycemia awareness questionnaire to assess hypoglycemia awareness in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with insulin.

AIMS

Given the implications of impaired hypoglycemia awareness in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), it is necessary to identify reliable and valid instruments for its measurement. The Hypoglycemia Awareness Questionnaire (HypoA-Q) measures impaired awareness, symptom severity, and symptom frequency. The present study evaluated the HypoA-Q validity for assessing awareness of hypoglycemia in patients with T2D treated with insulin.

METHODS

The questionnaire was administered to 406 patients diagnosed with T2D on insulin treatment at four centers in Bogotá, Colombia. The internal structure of the questionnaire was analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, internal consistency and test-retest reliability were evaluated, and criterion validity was rated by assessing its correlation with the Clarke scale.

RESULTS

Factor analysis identified an empirical structure of four domains that adequately represented the construct. Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's Omega coefficients yielded values between 0.75 and 0.79 for the impaired awareness scale. Lin and intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.86 and 0.85, respectively. The correlation between the impaired awareness subscale and Clarke scale was 0.654, and differences were found between patients with good and poor awareness of hypoglycemia.

CONCLUSIONS

The HypoA-Q is a valid and reliable tool for measuring the awareness of hypoglycemia in patients with T2D who are treated with insulin.