[Blood glucose in the full-term newborn infant in the 1st hour following birth]

Blood glucose (BG) concentrations were measured in cordblood and in capillary blood 15 and 60 min after birth in 672 consecutive full term newborns with adequate birth weight and without major perinatal complications. The glucose oxydase method was used. The results (mean +/- 1 SD) were in umbilical vein 67.6 +/- 20.1 mg%, in umbilical artery 60.3 +/- 20.0 mg%, 15 min after delivery 49.4 +/- 20.5 mg%, and 60 min after delivery 47.5 +/- 17.4 mg%. In 29% of the babies umbilical artery BG was below 50 mg%. 12% showed a "hypoglycemia" below 30 mg% (1.7 mmol/l) after 15 min, 17.5% after 15 and/or after 60 min. Newborns with arterial cord BG below 50 mg% turned out to be hypoglycemic after 15 min three times more often than newborns with arterial cord BG above 50 mg%. Hypoglycemic babies at age of 15 min showed 60-min-BG-values of 40.4 +/- 13.0 mg% when they had received a 10% glucose feed (20-30 ml) at the age of 1/2 h, compared with 31.1 +/- 7.0 mg% without such a supplement. Although this "early hypoglycemia" was asymptomatic in nearly all our newborns, we tend to consider it as a serious risk factor for the occurrence of a potentially dangerous symptomatic neonatal hypoglycemia.