Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 6, 2026

Improving IV Insulin Administration in a Community Hospital
Published on: June 11, 2012
Causes of hypoamylasaemia in a hospital population
1a Department of Clinical Biochemistry , Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust , SE London, UK and St Thomas' Hospitals, London SE1 9RT UK .
Aims:
We noted serum amylase activity results in our laboratory that fell below the lower reference limit, although there was no obvious explanation for this and the literature on this topic is relatively sparse.
Methods:
We studied hospital laboratory requests and reports of individuals showing hypoamylasaemia over a one-year period.
Results:
We report one of the few studies to look at hypoamylasaemia in a hospital population. We found that 5.4% of the hospital serum amylase activity results were below the reference range quoted by our laboratory.
Conclusions:
Some of the associations we observed with hypoamylasaemia were diabetes mellitus, cystic fibrosis, hypertriglyceridaemia and use of the antibiotic gentamicin. We suggest that clinicians and laboratories should be aware of the causes of hypoamylasaemia to aid interpretation of abnormally low amylase activity in their patients.
Related Concept Videos
Hypoglycemia and Glucagon
SBAR II: Application of SBAR
SBAR Report from a Nurse to a Health Care Provider
S: "Hello, Dr. Smith. This is Jane, RN, from the Med Surg unit. I am calling to tell you about Ms. White in Room 210, who is experiencing increased pain and redness at her incision site. Her recent...
Overview of Protein Metabolism
Amino acids play various roles in the body once they are absorbed into cells. They are restructured...
Inborn Errors of Metabolism
Healthcare Associated Infections II: Preventive Measures
The best practices for preventing healthcare-associated infections include hand hygiene, patient risk...
Amyloid Fibrils
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining,...

