Research from the University of Bristol shows that dogs have have a special talent for detecting low blood sugarlevels in their owners and alerting them of the danger.
Dogs have previously been used to detect hypoglycaemia in patients with type 1 diabetes. The dogs used in the research were those that had previously been with patients with diabetes or those that had been owned by the patient prior to being trained. The study used patient recorded data to assess the ability of dogs to detect hypoglycaemia. All 17 dogs that were studied demonstrated an ability to improve quality of life for their owners, including helping to reduce ambulance call outs, reducing instances of unconsciousness as a result of severe hypoglycaemia and helping to improve blood glucose control.
The study’s lead author, Dr Nicola rooney stated : ” These findings are important as they show the value of trained dogs and demonstrate that glycaemia alert dogs placed with clients living with diabetes, afford significant improvements to owner well-being including increased glycaemic control, client independence and quality of life and potentially could reduce the costs of long-term health care.”
