Blood Glucose in the Neonate and Its Clinical Significance

Abstract

LEVELS of total reducing substance, true sugar and glucose have been measured in the blood of newborn infants since 1911. The early reports have been reviewed by Norval et al.^{1 , 2} Although an extensive literature exists, there is still disagreement over which levels of blood sugar are normal in the neonate and which are hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic. Much of this confusion results from differences in technics in collecting, precipitating and analyzing the sugar, as well as the duration of fasting before sampling. An attempt will be made to explain the differences in reported results, to present current data for normal ranges . . .