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Prolonged hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia in newborns with intrauterine growth retardation
  1. O Fafoula,
  2. H Alkhayyat,
  3. K Hussain
  1. London Centre for Paediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to:
    K Hussain
    Unit of Biochemistry, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK; K.Hussain{at}ich.ucl.ac.uk

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Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) is an important cause of neonatal mortality, morbidity and poor neurological outcome.1 Hypoglycaemia as a consequence of IUGR is a major risk factor for neurodevelopmental impairment. The factors that predispose these patients to hypoglycaemia include failure of counter-regulation, immaturity of the enzyme systems regulating glycogenolysis, gluconeogenesis, ketogenesis, reduced adipose tissue stores, hyperinsulinism or increased sensitivity to insulin.2–4 Hypoglycaemia in patients with IUGR is usually thought to be transient, lasting for a few days. However, the precise duration …

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Footnotes

  • Funding: Research at the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust benefits from R&D funding received from the NHS Executive.

  • Competing interests: None declared.