We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
LGC Clinical Diagnostics

Download Mobile App




Hypoglycemia in Hospitalized Patients Linked to Increased Mortality Risk

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 30 Nov 2016
Print article
Image: A typical glucometer showing a blood glucose indicating severe hypoglycemia (Photo courtesy of the UCSF).
Image: A typical glucometer showing a blood glucose indicating severe hypoglycemia (Photo courtesy of the UCSF).
Spontaneous and insulin-related hypoglycemia is common among hospitalized patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM). The definition of hypoglycemia in hospitalized patients is poorly defined and thus the true prevalence of hypoglycemia during hospitalization is variable.

One complication of diabetes, hypoglycemia, occurs most often in people taking medications to manage their blood sugar. These treatments can raise insulin levels too high, which can in turn cause blood glucose levels to drop too low. Hypoglycemia can be dangerous and, depending on the severity, can lead to various symptoms, including dizziness, confusion, anxiety, seizure or loss of consciousness.

A team of medical scientists at the Rabin Medical Center (Petah Tikva, Israel) conducted a study in a large 1,300-bed university-affiliated tertiary medical center collected historical prospectively observational data which were extracted from the medical records of all patients admitted for any cause to the hospital’s medical wards between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2013. This study included nearly 3,000 patients with hypoglycemia, defined as blood glucose levels lower than 70 mg/dL.

The team found that for patients with hypoglycemia, 31.9% had died at the end of the follow-up period. Mortality risk was higher in insulin-treated patients with moderate hypoglycemia (40-70 mg/dL), compared to patients without insulin treatment with similar glucose values. However, with severe hypoglycemia of less than 40 mg/dL, the increase in mortality risk was similar with insulin-related and non-insulin related hypoglycemia. The c cause of admission did not affect the association between glucose levels and mortality. Almost half the patients with hypoglycemia during hospitalization did not have pre- existing DM (1,452/2,947 patients, 49%). However, most of the patients with severe hypoglycemia had pre-existing DM (236/342 patients, 69%).

Amit Akirov, MD, the study senior author, said, “Hypoglycemia is common among hospitalized patients with and without diabetes mellitus. Our findings suggest that hypoglycemia, whether insulin-related or non-insulin related, is associated with short- and long-term mortality risk. These data are a timely reminder that hypoglycemia of any cause carries the association with increased mortality.” The study was published on November 17, 2016, in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Related Links:
Rabin Medical Center

Gold Member
Antipsychotic TDM Assays
Saladax Antipsychotic Assays
Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels
New
TORCH Infections Test
TORCH Panel
New
Silver Member
ACTH Assay
ACTH ELISA

Print article

Channels

Immunology

view channel
Image: The cancer stem cell test can accurately choose more effective treatments (Photo courtesy of University of Cincinnati)

Stem Cell Test Predicts Treatment Outcome for Patients with Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer frequently responds to chemotherapy initially, but eventually, the tumor develops resistance to the therapy, leading to regrowth. This resistance is partially due to the activation... Read more

Microbiology

view channel
Image: The lab-in-tube assay could improve TB diagnoses in rural or resource-limited areas (Photo courtesy of Kenny Lass/Tulane University)

Handheld Device Delivers Low-Cost TB Results in Less Than One Hour

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease globally, affecting an estimated 10 million people annually. In 2021, about 4.2 million TB cases went undiagnosed or unreported, mainly due to... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: The ready-to-use DUB enzyme assay kits accelerate routine DUB activity assays without compromising data quality (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Sensitive and Specific DUB Enzyme Assay Kits Require Minimal Setup Without Substrate Preparation

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination are two important physiological processes in the ubiquitin-proteasome system, responsible for protein degradation in cells. Deubiquitinating (DUB) enzymes contain around... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: The HIV-1 self-testing chip will be capable of selectively detecting HIV in whole blood samples (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

Disposable Microchip Technology Could Selectively Detect HIV in Whole Blood Samples

As of the end of 2023, approximately 40 million people globally were living with HIV, and around 630,000 individuals died from AIDS-related illnesses that same year. Despite a substantial decline in deaths... Read more

Industry

view channel
Image: The collaboration aims to leverage Oxford Nanopore\'s sequencing platform and Cepheid\'s GeneXpert system to advance the field of sequencing for infectious diseases (Photo courtesy of Cepheid)

Cepheid and Oxford Nanopore Technologies Partner on Advancing Automated Sequencing-Based Solutions

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a leading molecular diagnostics company, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (Oxford, UK), the company behind a new generation of sequencing-based molecular analysis technologies,... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.