Browse Guides  internal medicine  endocrine and metabolic disorders

Hypoglycaemia

Prevalence
Causes
Clinical features
Investigations
Therapy
Prevention
Prognosis
Investigations

Measure glucose rapidly using a blood glucose meter a b taking a sample from the earlobe. a

Why?

Normoglycaemia on a reagent strip makes hypoglycaemia unlikely

Patient Target Disorder and
Reference Standard		 Diagnostic Test LR+
(95% CI) 		Post-test Probability LR-
(95% CI) 		Post-test Probability
altered mental status a
(pre-test probability: 7%) 		hypoglycaemia
(blood glucose) 		reagent strip 12.1
(6.8 to 21) 		48% 0.090
(0.014 to 0.6) 		0.68%
  • Immediate blood glucose measurement reduces time to definitive care (mean 2 hours to nursing care, 1 hour to medical care) a
  • Taking a capillary glucose sample from the earlobe is less painful than from the thumb. a

Expiry date: April 2004
Levels of Evidence used in grading these guides

Author   CM   Ball
Reviewer   D   Matthews
CAT Writers   M   Taylor , RS   Phillips , CM   Ball , R   Harden