HYPOGLYCEMIA

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency and severity of hypoglycemia in patientswith liver cirrhosis. Study Design: Cross sectional case series study. Period: Six months.Setting: Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad. Methods: All the patients of liver cirrhosis,of >12 years of age and of either gender were evaluated for hypoglycemia by assessing theglycemic status through random or fasting blood glucose level. The severity of liver cirrhosiswas identified according to the Child-Pugh classification whereas the severity of hypoglycemiawas grouped in mild, moderate and severe categories. The data was entered and saved inSPSS and frequency and percentage was calculated for hypoglycemia in patients with livercirrhosis. The stratification was done for age, gender, hypoglycemia and severity of the diseaseand hypoglycemia. The chi-square test was applied between categorical variables at 95%confidence interval and p -value ≤0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results:During six months study period, total 100 cirrhotic subjects were studied for hypoglycemia,of which 59% were males and 41% were females. The mean ± SD for age in all (100)cirrhotic patients was 42.33 ± 8.87 while the mean ± SD for age in male cirrhotic patientswas 44.06±11.45 where as in female cirrhotic subjects it was 39.92±12.55 respectively. Thehypoglycemia was observed in 67%, of which 45(67.2%) were males and 22(32.8%) werefemales. The mean random blood glucose level in male and female hypoglycemic cirrhoticpatients was 67.88±8.43 and 65.62±6.75 while the mean fasting blood glucose level in maleand female hypoglycemic cirrhotic patients was 52.93±5.31 and 53.64±8.73 respectively. Outof sixty seven hypoglycemic cirrhotic subjects 45(67%) were males and 22(33%) were females.Of sixty seven, 32(47.8%) had moderate hypoglycemia while 30/67(44.8%) were in Child-Pughclass B (p<0.05). Conclusions: The hypoglycemia was detected in patients with liver cirrhosis,hence frequent blood glucose monitoring is one of the most important way to detect mildhypoglycemia and prevent serious and severe episodes.