title: Acute oral hypoglycemic ingestions.
abstract: We reviewed the poison center records of 48 consecutive reports of oral hypoglycemic exposure reported to the Rush Poison Control Center between January 1988 and December 1989. The average age of ingestion was 15.0 y (range 1 to 75 y). Twenty-three of the patients (48%) were male, while 25 (52%) were female. Twenty-nine patients ingested glyburide, 10 chlorpropamide, 6 glipizide, 2 tolbutamide, and 1 each for tolazamide and phenformin. One patient ingested both glyburide and tolbutamide. Sixteen cases (33%) involved coingestants. Accidental cause was the primary reason for ingestion in 33 cases (69%) with suicidal intent being mentioned in an additional 11 cases (23%). Thirteen patients (27%) were treated and released from a health care facility, while the same percentage of patients were admitted. There was no adverse effect in 24 patients (50%) while 9 patients (19%) had minor effects without residual disability. Only 2 patients (4%) experienced a major effect. No deaths were reported. We conclude that oral hypoglycemic ingestions generally have a successful outcome and there does not appear to be a significant difference whether a short/long acting agent or first/second-generation product was ingested.
authors.affiliation: Cook County Hospital/TOXIKON Consortium, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Erickson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.forename: T I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Lebby
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lipscomb
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Leikin
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000284:Administration, Oral; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000506:poisoning*; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011039:Poison Control Centers; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents