Continuous glucose monitoring in newborn babies at risk of hypoglycemia.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the usefulness of continuous glucose monitoring in babies at risk of neonatal hypoglycemia.

STUDY DESIGN: Babies >/=32 weeks old who were at risk of hypoglycemia and admitted to newborn intensive care received routine treatment, including intermittent blood glucose measurement using the glucose oxidase method, and blinded continuous interstitial glucose monitoring.

RESULTS: Continuous glucose monitoring was well tolerated in 102 infants. There was good agreement between blood and interstitial glucose concentrations (mean difference, 0.0 mmol/L; 95% CI, -1.1-1.1). Low glucose concentrations (<2.6 mmol/L) were detected in 32 babies (32%) with blood sampling and in 45 babies (44%) with continuous monitoring. There were 265 episodes of low interstitial glucose concentrations, 215 (81%) of which were not detected with blood glucose measurement. One hundred seven episodes in 34 babies lasted >30 minutes, 78 (73%) of which were not detected with blood glucose measurement.

CONCLUSION: Continuous interstitial glucose monitoring detects many more episodes of low glucose concentrations than blood glucose measurement. The physiological significance of these previously undetected episodes is unknown.