Nearly one in five people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes regularly experience disruption to their working day due to hypoglycaemia.
A new survey, focusing on productivity loss during hypoglycaemic events, was published this month in the journal Value in Health. The survey questioned 1,404 people with type 1 type 2 diabetes who had reported a hypoglycaemic event in the preceding month in the US, UK, Germany and France.
The study concluded that average loss of workplace productivity, per person, per month due to a night-time hypoglycaemic event was 14.7 hours for those that missed work.
Hypoglycaemia often occurs during the night and one in five people reported arriving late for work or missing a full day of work as a result. Approximately 18% of survey respondents also reported having to leave work early or miss a full day due to hypoglycaemia during the day.
Sarah Johnson, Director of Policy and Communications at JDRF said: “People with type 1 diabetes live with the threat of hypoglycaemia on a daily basis. Despite it being a serious and life-threatening health issue, many people without type 1 diabetes are unaware of it.”
This National Diabetes Week, JDRF is encouraging the public to understand how type 1 diabetes affects people in the UK to learn the symptoms of hypoglycaemia and to become hypo-aware, so people can help someone in an emergency.