Prevalence of Hypoglycaemia among Children Admitted Into the Emergency Paediatrics Unit of a Tertiary Hospital

Background: Hypoglycemia is a medical emergency. Unless promptly identified and treated, it can lead to irreversible brain damage with risk of long term neurologic sequelae or death. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of hypoglycemia among children presenting to the Emergency Paediatric Unit (EPU) of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto. Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study conducted between 1st June and 31st August, 2013. Blood glucose, in addition to other relevant laboratory investigations, was measured for each patient at the time of admission into EPU using rapid glucose test strips mounted in a glucometer. Result: Of the 152 children that were admitted into EPU during the study period, 7 patients had hypoglycemia (<2.2mmo/l), giving a prevalence of 4.6%. Six (85.7%) of the 7 children with hypoglycaemia were under the age of 5 years (mean age 18.6 ± 14.7 months), with significant female preponderance (1:2.5). Hypoglycaemia occurred in children with severe malaria, diarrheal disease and protein energy malnutrition. Overall mortality rate was 7.9%, but no death occurred in those with hypoglycaemia. Conclusion: Hypoglycaemia does occur especially in sick under-five children presenting to our paediatric emergency unit. Routine blood glucose monitoring of at risk patients at the time of admission is therefore recommended.