title: Alcohol-related hypoglycemia in rural Uganda: socioeconomic and physiologic contrasts.
abstract: Hypoglycemia is a rare but important complication seen in patients who present with alcohol intoxication. In a study by Marks and Teale, less than one percent of people with alcohol intoxication who presented to an American emergency department were hypoglycemic [1]. It is even more rare to see an intoxicated patient, who had been eating appropriately prior to or during the intoxication, present in a hypoglycemic coma. However, our analysis of the first 500 patients seen in a newly opened five-bed Emergency Department (ED) at Nyakibale Karoli Lwanga Hospital in rural southwestern Uganda, revealed multiple intoxicated patients who presented in hypoglycemic coma within hours of eating a full meal. Three of these cases are summarized and discussed below.
authors.affiliation: Idaho Emergency Physicians, Boise Idaho, USA.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hammerstedt
authors.forename: Stacey L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chamberlain
authors.forename: Sara W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Mark C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Bisanzo