Closed Loop and Education for Hypoglycemia Awareness Restoration (CLEAR), Conducted by the Impaired Awareness of Hypoglycemia Consortium (IAHC)
Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Summary
The purpose of the CLEAR study is to determine the effect on counterregulatory responses (CRR) of intervening (by attempting to strictly avoid hypoglycemia) to improve awareness of hypoglycemic symptoms among adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) who have impaired awareness of hypoglycemia (IAH). IAH affects 20-25% of adults with T1D, and rises with increasing duration of T1D.
Description
Individuals with IAH exhibit blunted symptomatic and CR hormonal responses to hypoglycemia and, as such, have an impaired ability to respond to hypoglycemia. Thus, rates of severe hypoglycemia are up to 6-fold greater in those affected. Intensive management of T1D is necessary in preventing long-term complications, but can be complicated by recurrent episodes of hypoglycemia which lead to and sustain the CRR deficits of IAH. Technologies such as continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and hybrid closed-loop (HCL) systems can reduce severe hypoglycemia (and also may reduce IAH) but the ability of t…