“Restoration of Impaired Awareness of Hypoglycemia U01 Consortium: University of Kentucky”
Abstract
For insulin-treated people with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), hypoglycemia is the rate limiting step in their goals to
appropriately control their blood sugar and avoid long-term diabetes complications. Unfortunately, repeated
episodes of hypoglycemia have been shown to induce a pathological process leading to impaired awareness
of hypoglycemia (IAH) and an impaired counterregulatory response hypoglycemia that increases the risk for
life-threatening hypoglycemia. This grant application (in response to RFA-DK-21-020) seeks to establish a 10-
site clinical consortium to determine the factors that contribute to the heterogeneity in the restoration of IAH
and improved counterregulatory responses in adult individuals with T1D. It is proposed to test the hypothesis
that a combination of, 1) advanced diabetes care technology comprised of a hybrid closed loop insulin pump
with continuous glucose monitor (CGM), coupled with 2) intensive hypoglycemia avoidance education, will lead
to a decrease in the frequency/severity of hypoglycemia and thereby improve the awareness of hypoglycemia
and improve the counterregulatory response. The specific aims of this proposal, as outlined in the RFA, are; 1)
determine if diabetes care with use of the most up-to-date management strategies (i.e. a hybrid closed loop
system and hypoglycemia avoidance education) which optimizes HbA1c while minimizing hypoglycemia can
restore awareness of hypoglycemia in individuals with T1D and IAH, 2) determine the physiological factors that
are associated with restoration of hypoglycemia awareness and counterregulatory response, including but not
limited to age, duration of diabetes and metrics of glycemia (eg, time in range, time spent in hypoglycemia or
other CGM metrics), and 3) determine the association of the current self-report questionnaires (or develop new
metrics) for identification of IAH with measurement of CRR using "state of the art" metabolic assessments, i.e.
hypoglycemic, hyperinsulinemic clamps. The University of Kentucky is well-poised to contribute to this valuable
consortium effort because 1) the University has the requisite institutional infrastructure to support all aspects of
this research, 2) this proposal outlines several novel approaches to measure and analyze hypoglycemia
awareness, 3) the PI has assembled an experienced leadership team has the requisite expertise in T1D
subject recruitment and conducting hypoglycemia awareness studies, and importantly, 4) this site will provide
the NIDDK with access to unique pool of US-based, often understudied, rural study subjects with T1D.