title: Hyperglycaemia and the very preterm baby.
abstract: Neonatal hyperglycaemia, as usually defined (a whole blood glucose of >7 mmol/L), is common in the first week of life in babies born more than 12 weeks early. However, a review of a cohort of all such births in the north of England suggests that significant glycosuria is uncommon, and that there is no threat of an osmotic diuresis until the urine contains 2% glucose (by which time the blood glucose level almost always exceeds 15 mmol/L). The current statistical or epidemiological definition of hyperglycaemia (derived from data on term babies) needs to be replaced, for clinical purposes, by a more operationally relevant definition.
authors.affiliation: Retired Consultant Paediatrician, Newcastle, UK. shey@easynet.co.uk
authors.forename: Edmund
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hey
mesh_terms: D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000379:methods; D009359:Neonatology; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose