Parent sleep quality and fear of nighttime hypoglycaemia.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2025

Identifier

DOI: 10.1111/dme.70110

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Parents of children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) frequently endorse fear of hypoglycaemia (FH) overnight when blood glucose (BG) values may be variable. We aimed to understand how fear of nighttime hypoglycaemia (FoNH) was associated with BG data, parent-reported sleep quality and the role of diabetes technology in these associations.

METHODS: One hundred and thirty-six parents (M age = 43.00[6.44] years, 89% female) completed surveys. Continuous glucose monitoring data were obtained from 116 youth (M age = 12.97[2.58] years, 47.8% female) to examine blood glucose values during the day and overnight.

RESULTS: Frequency of hypoglycaemic events overnight was not associated with parent sleep quality nor with parent FoNH, but glucose variability overnight was associated with poorer sleep quality and higher FoNH. Higher parent-reported FoNH was associated with lower sleep quality. Findings were mixed regarding the role of diabetes technology and FoNH and sleep quality. FoNH explained 26% of the variance in the association between glucose variability and parent sleep quality.

CONCLUSIONS: FoNH is a challenge for parents of youth with T1D. Targeted behavioural intervention to reduce FoNH and improve sleep may be beneficial. Future research should include objective measures of parent sleep and specific diabetes technology use overnight to disentangle mixed findings.

Journal Title

Diabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association

Volume

42

Issue

10

First Page

70110

Last Page

70110

MeSH Keywords

Humans; Female; Hypoglycemia; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1; Male; Fear; Parents; Adult; Adolescent; Child; Sleep Quality; Blood Glucose; Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring; Middle Aged; Young Adult; Hypoglycemic Agents; Sleep

PubMed ID

40751547

Keywords

fear of hypoglycaemia; paediatric diabetes; parental sleep; sleep quality; type 1 diabetes

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