ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The following study has been carried out to find the symptoms of hypoglycemia and the symptoms of transient focal neurologic deficit, which were complained by insulin dependent diabetes mellitus patients and their parents. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 16 insulin dependent diabetic patients who were admitted to the pediatric department of Samsung Medical Center. From the 28 possible symptoms of hypoglycemia, the patients and their parents were asked to choose the symptoms they were experiencing through questionnaires, and the mean score was obtained by dividing the frequency of each symptom manifestation by 4 levels. RESULTS: Of the 16 patients, there were 6 males and 10 females and their average age was 13 years. The complaints raised by insulin dependent diabetic patients and their parents regarding the symptoms of hypoglycemia were relatively similar. However the frequency of observed symptoms such as pounding heart, dizziness and trembling was higher in the complaints of patients, and the mean score of objective symptoms such as slurred speech, odd behaviors, aggressiveness was much higher in the complaints of parents. During symptoms of hypoglycemia, three cases were seen throwing fits of convulsions due to neurologic deficit. CONCLUSION: It is thought that parents can offer a reasonably accurate information on the symptoms of hypoglycemia in insulin dependent diabetic patients, and particularly, behavioral changes in young children with diabetes mellitus is considered as an important characteristic for testing hypoglycemia.