The predictive value of glucose utilization rate in neonatal hypoglycaemia of small-for-gestational-age infants

The glucose utilization constant K was determined in 50 small-for-gestational-age neonates. In 11 cases the K value was higher than 2.0, and 5 out of these babies developed asymptomatic hypoglycaemia. In 39 infants the K value was under 2.0, and except in one false negative instance, no hypoglycaemia was observed. The results suggest that early determination of the glucose disappearance rate is useful in predicting the probability of hypoglycaemia.