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A Method for Manipulating Blood Glucose and Measuring Resulting Changes in Cognitive Accessibility of Target Stimuli
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Evaluating the validity of a bedside method of detecting hypoglycemia in children

Jerome Boluwaji Elutayo Elusiyan1, Olugbenga O Adeodu, Ebunoluwa A Adejuyigbe

  • 1Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. bimbolabanks@yahoo.com

Pediatric Emergency Care
|July 28, 2006
PubMed

Insights

The glucometer accurately assesses pediatric hypoglycemia, showing high sensitivity and specificity. While it may lead to overdiagnosis, it

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Endocrinology
  • Clinical Diagnostics
  • Point-of-Care Testing

Background:

  • Hypoglycemia is a common pediatric condition presenting diagnostic challenges.
  • In resource-limited tropical settings, efficient diagnostic methods are crucial.
  • Evaluating alternative diagnostic tools for hypoglycemia is necessary.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To validate the glucometer method for assessing hypoglycemia in pediatric patients.
  • To compare glucometer readings with laboratory-based glucose determination.
  • To assess the diagnostic accuracy of glucometers in a pediatric population.

Main Methods:

  • Conducted a study with 453 consecutively admitted pediatric patients.
  • Collected blood samples for analysis by both glucometer and laboratory glucose oxidase method.
  • Defined hypoglycemia as plasma glucose < 2.5 mmol/L (<45 mg/dL).

Main Results:

  • Analyzed results from 392 patients; 9.7% were hypoglycemic by glucometer vs. 6.4% by lab.
  • The glucometer demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity.
  • The glucometer showed a positive predictive index of 63.12% and negative of 99.72%, indicating potential overdiagnosis.

Conclusions:

  • The glucometer method shows significant correlation with laboratory results for pediatric blood glucose.
  • High sensitivity and specificity support its use in emergency pediatric cases.
  • The glucometer is a recommended tool for blood sugar determination in children, especially in resource-limited settings.
Abstract

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