Health and Disability

Overall, older and clinically complex patients were nearly twice as likely to develop severe hypoglycemia as non-complex patients. Intensive treatment increased that risk by an additional 77 percent over two years, the researchers said.

"This means that 3 out of 100 older or clinically complex patients with [type 2] diabetes who never had hypoglycemia before, whose [blood sugar] is within recommended targets and who are not on insulin will experience a severe hypoglycemic episode at some point over two years," McCoy said in a Mayo news release.

"This does not even capture the more mild episodes of low blood sugar that patients can treat at home, without having to go to the doctor, emergency department or hospital," she added.

"These findings are concerning for many reasons," McCoy said. "Overtreatment results in greater patient burden, higher risk of medication side effects, and more severe hypoglycemia, which can lead to serious injury and even death. It adds more unnecessary costs for patients and the health care system."

McCoy stressed the need for providing individualized treatments for people with type 2 diabetes.