Nocturnal hypoglycemia in insulin-treated diabetic persons is often difficult to recognize clinically. It has been suggested that a useful biochemical test to demonstrate this would be the increased excretion of cortisol in the urine during the overnight period. However, of six diabetic persons who had nocturnal hypoglycemia (≤2.5 mmol/L), plasma cortisol profiles and overnight urinary cortisol-creatinine ratios were abnormal in only one. In four others the plasma cortisol levels and cortisol excretion indices were indistinguishable from either a normal control group or a group of five diabetic subjects who did not develop nocturnal hypoglycemia. The remaining patient had a raised urinary cortisol-creatinine ratio, but did not show increased plasma levels of cortisol, growth hormone, or glucagon during the hypoglycemic phase. These data do not support the usefulness of the urinary cortisol-creatinine index as a marker of nocturnal hypoglycemia in diabetes.

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