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Hypoglycaemia

Prevalence
Causes
Clinical features
Investigations
Therapy
Prevention
Prognosis
Investigations

If you believe hypoglycaemia is present, try a test dose of 50% glucose intravenously (20 to 50mls) c

Why?

A full recovery following 50% glucose diagnoses hypoglycaemia

Patient Target Disorder and
Reference Standard		 Diagnostic Test LR+
(95% CI) 		Post-test Probability
altered mental consciousness c (pre-test probability: 9%) hypoglycaemia
(blood glucose or clinical diagnosis) 		complete response to 50% glucose 43
(18 to 110) 		80%
    partial response to 50% glucose 1.2
(0.47 to 3.2) 		10%
    no response to 50% glucose 0.20
(0.089 to 0.44) 		1.8%

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