Background. Fear of hypoglycemia can result in anxiety, stress, anger, depression and severe avoidance
behaviors that it affects the sleep quality of diabetic
patients. Therefore, the present study was conducted
with the aim of investigating the relationship between
fear of hypoglycemia and sleep quality among type 2
diabetic patients.
Methods. The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 type 2 diabetic patients referred to endocrinology clinic of Velayat Hospital and Boali Hospital
in Qazvin, in 2019. Data were collected using a checklist
for demographic variables, the Fear of Hypoglycemia
Survey (FHS-W), and the Pittsburgh sleep quality index
(PSQI). Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation
test were performed for data analysis using SPSS v24.
Results. In this study, the mean age of diabetic patients
was 55.75 ± 10.31. The majority of the participants
were female (n = 299, 74.8%) and were treated with
oral anti-diabetic drugs (n = 174, 43.5%). The mean
score of sleep quality in patients was 8.98 ± 3.64 and
the fear of hypoglycemia was 21.27 ± 11.92. The results of this study showed that there was a signifcant
relationship between the fear of hypoglycemia and
the poor sleep quality among patients (P < 0.001,
r = 0.305).
Conclusion. The fear of hypoglycemia has a direct and
signifcant relationship with poor sleep quality in diabetic patients; so that this fear reduces the quality of
sleep in diabetic patients. Therefore, in order to provide
adequate sleep to prevent inappropriate sleep complications, great attention should be paid to the issue of
fear of hypoglycemia, and consider some actions to
reduce this fear. (Clin Diabetol 2020; 10, 1: 149–154)
Key words: fear of hypoglycemia, sleep quality,
type 2 diabete