DOI: 10.12809/hkmj154759
© Hong Kong Academy of Medicine. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Ability to detect hypoglycaemic symptoms
Martin Hofmeister, PhD
Consumer Centre of the German Federal State of Bavaria,
Department Food and Nutrition,
Mozartstraße 9, D-80336 Munich,
Germany
Corresponding author: Prof Martin Hofmeister (hofmeister@vzbayern.de)
Full
paper in PDF
To the Editor—I read with interest the excellent
article “Avoiding hypoglycaemia: a new target of
care for elderly diabetic patients.” by Wong in the
October 2015 issue of the Hong Kong Medical
Journal.1 There is one aspect worth mentioning.
Electronic sensor systems and trained diabetes-alert
dogs can serve as an effective early warning system
for elderly people with diabetes. With their acute
sense of smell, hypoglycaemia alert dogs are able to
detect changes in the chemical composition of their
owner’s sweat or breath (eg exhaled methyl nitrate,
products of ketosis) and can thus smell the low blood
sugar. In addition to olfactory changes, the dogs may
also respond to changes in the mood of the owner
(many diabetics become irritated when their blood
sugar drops) or visual signs such as muscle tremor.
The dogs alert their owners immediately by nudging,
licking, jumping, or barking.2 3 4 Approximately 75%
to 81% of diabetic patients who have a trained
hypoglycaemia alert dog report an improved quality
of life.4 A recent Italian study that used dogs for
cancer detection found that a professionally trained
dog could detect prostate cancer with an accuracy of
98% (volatile organic compounds in urine samples).5
Although further research is urgently needed,4 a
brief indication of the potential effectiveness of
trained hypoglycaemia alert dogs should be included
in a review article.
References
1. Wong CW. Avoiding hypoglycaemia: a new target of care
for elderly diabetic patients. Hong Kong Med J 2015;21:444-54. Crossref
2. Hügler S. Diabetic alert dogs: A good nose for hypoglycemia
[in German]. Dtsch Med Wochenschr 2012;137:25.
3. Petry NM, Wagner JA, Rash CJ, Hood KK. Perceptions
about professionally and non-professionally trained
hypoglycemia detection dogs. Diabetes Res Clin Pract
2015;109:389-96. Crossref
4. Weber KS, Roden M, Müssig K. Do dogs sense hypoglycaemia?
Diabet Med 2015 Oct 27. Epub ahead of print. Crossref
5. Taverna G, Tidu L, Grizzi F, et al. Olfactory system of highly
trained dogs detects prostate cancer in urine samples. J
Urol 2015;193:1382-7. Crossref