Abstract

Objective: To describe the pattern of random blood glucose levels of children presenting at the children outpatient department of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Ado-Ekiti

Method: Consecutive children aged 15years and below who presented at the Children Out-Patient Department (COPD) of EKSUTH between January 2015 and May 2015 whose parent or guardian gave consent to participate in the study had their random blood glucose done and the result analyzed with statistical package for social science (SPSS).

Results: 605 children (366 males and 239 females) were studied, 70.4% of them were aged ≤ 5years at the time of the study. Random blood glucose of the studied children ranged from 1.2 to 25.0mmol/L. The mean RBG was 6.42 ± 0.75. Majority (86.8%) of the patients were euglycaemic, 12.9% were hyperglycemic while 0.3% were hypoglycemic. Of the 525 patients who were euglycemic 93(17.7%) were admitted compared to 38(48.7%) of the 78 patients with hyperglycemia; the difference was statistically significant (ᵡ² = 51.083; p= 0.000). 95(15.7%) of the 605 patients drank fizzy drinks within 2hours before RBG check and none (0%) of these had hypoglycemia; 76(80%) were euglycaemic; 14(14.7%) were hyperglycemic and 5(5.3%) had profound hyperglycemia compared to 2(0.4%), 449(88.0%), 52(10.2%) and 7(1.4%) who had hypoglycemia, euglycaemia, hyperglycemia and profound hyperglycemia respectively of the remaining 510(84.3%) patients who did not drink any fizzy drink. The difference was statistically significant (ᵡ²=8.594; p=0.035)

Conclusion: Transient hyperglycemia is relatively common among acutely ill children seen in Children Out-Patient Department, though majority of them are able to maintain normal blood glucose with or without fizzy drinks.

Keywords: Random Blood Glucose; Children; Out-patient; Hyperglycemia; Hypoglycemia; Euglycaemia