Cortisol production rate. VI. Hypoglycemia in the neonatal and postneonatal period, and in association with dwarfism

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Cortisol production rates were estimated in patients with transient neonatal hypoglycemia, postneonatal hypoglycemia, and hypoglycemia with dwarfism. In the first group, four low-birth-weight males had abnormally low rates. In the second group, cortisol production rates were in the normal range. Low to low-normal rates were found in the group of dwarfs. Three of five older dwarfs had a history of low birth weight for gestational age. Of these, two were the smaller members of two sets of twins; one had documented neonatal hypoglycemia. These three patients may have had hypopituitarism in utero. Of the entire group of 23 patients, only one was above the fiftieth percentile in height, and 19 were below the twenty-fifth percentile. Growth failure in most of these patients with hypoglycemia is unexplained.