Introduction
Hypoglycemia (or low blood sugar) is a condition in which a person has a low level of blood glucose. Glucose is an essential energy provider and blood sugar needs to stay within a specific range in order to function normally. Hypoglycemia can have a direct profound effect on someone’s mental state, both in terms of mood and cognitive performance. The HSC-7 checks for these effects.
The HSC-7 checks 4 symptoms of neuroglycopenia (clumsy, confused, difficulty in speaking, and weakness) and 3 autonomic symptoms (heart beating, shivering, sweating).
| Arguably, when you experience hypoglycemia, it is best to first take glucose or high-carbohydrate food instead of filling out this questionnaire. |
| If you are concerned about this topic, please make sure that you talk to your doctor. This website can under no circumstance replace medical advise and is not intended as such. |
Hypoglycemia can occur in a variety of medical conditions, not only diabetes. In the paper by Barry and colleages, 2011, the condition was studied in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects up to 10% of women.
| A diet with a low glycemic index might alleviate hypoglycemia in women with PCOS. |
Of course, hypoglycemia can occur under different conditions as well. Read this website about why it may occur.
The HSC-7 was tested with 4 groups of participants (total 462).
| Group | HSC-7 score |
|---|---|
Women with PCOS |
2.6 |
Women possibly with PCOS |
2.5 |
Healthy women |
2.1 |
Healthy men |
2.1 |
Run the demo
Legal stuff
The HSC-7 can be used for research, but you need to acknowledge the authors and their research paper when writing about it (References).
Technically
This is a simple scale question.
The survey code for PsyToolkit
scale: hscscale
- Not at all
- A little
- Fairly
- Very
l: hsc
t: scale hscscale
o: width 50%
q: Please tick the boxes that best describe how you feel at this moment
- Clumsy
- Confused
- Difficulty in speaking
- Weak
- Heart beating
- Shivering
- Sweating
l: hsc_score
t: set
- mean $hsc
l: feedback
t: info
q: The Hypoglycemia Symptoms Checklist can have scores between 1 and 4.<br>
Your score on the Hypoglycemia Symptoms Checklist is {$hsc_score}.<br>
The average score in control participants was around 2.0 to 2.1.<br>
See PsyToolkit survey library entry on this topic for more details.<br>
References
-
Barry, J.A., Bouloux, P. & Hardiman, P.J. (2011). The impact of eating behavior on psychological symptoms typical of reactive hypoglycemia. A pilot study comparing women with polycystic ovary syndrome to controls. Appetite, 57, 73-76.