Incidence, Aetiology and Manifestations of Neonatal Hypoglycaemia

Abstract

Summary: In a two year prospective study of neonatal hypoglycaemia among babies admitted into the neonatal unit, Ogun State University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, the overall inci dence of the condition was 9.5 percent among 675 admissions, while the incidence for in-born babies was 2.4 percent among 1081 live births. The highest prevalence of 25.8 percent occurred in babies of gestational age<32 weeks. The commonest aetiologic factors in the series included LBW in 51.6 percent and prematurity in 45.3 percent of the total number of cases. Respiratory distress was the commonest clinical manifestation, being present in 32.8 percent of the cases, this was followed by hypothermia in 18.8 percent and seizure in another 18.8 percent of the 64 cases. Mortality in the series was high at 49.6 percent and hypothermia, occurring in 30.0 percent of the cases, was the leading risk factor associated with mortality,