Hypoglycemia Preceding Fatal Car Collisions
- Daniel J. Cox, PHD,
- Boris Kovatchev, PHD,
- Karen Vandecar, BS,
- Linda Gonder-Frederick, PHD,
- Lee Ritterband, PHD and
- William Clarke, MD
- Center for Behavioral Medicine Research, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virgina
- Address correspondence to Daniel J. Cox, Center for Behavioral Medicine Research, Box 800223, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA 22908. E-mail: djc4f{at}virginia.edu
Hypoglycemia significantly impairs driving performance (1, 2), and driving collisions involving diabetic individuals are frequently attributed to hypoglycemia (3). Further, driving mishaps are often preceded by frequent mild symptomatic hypoglycemia while driving (4). It is reasonable to expect that before a hypoglycemia-related driving mishap, drivers with type 1 diabetes may experience frequent episodes of hypoglycemia.
We recently conducted a study in which 100 adults and 100 children with type 1 diabetes were given memory meters and strips (OneTouch Ultra; LifeScan, Milpitas, CA) and asked to record all blood glucose readings for 6 consecutive months. Tragically, during this study, two subjects died in vehicular collisions. Subject A was a 47-year-old male with …
