Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T11:25:27.023Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Alcohol-induced Hypoglycaemia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Vincent Marks  and
W. E. Medd
Vincent Marks
Affiliation:
Area Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
W. E. Medd
Affiliation:
Kingston General Hospital, Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The clinical manifestations that may result from abuse of alcohol are numerous. Profound, sometimes fatal, hypoglycaemia, first described a little over 20 years ago (Brown and Harvey, 1941), is among them although as far as we are aware, not previously described in this country. This may be due partly to differences in drinking habits here and abroad where “bootleg” liquor is more readily available, and partly to failure to recognize this complication of alcohol. Many cases of alcohol induced hypoglycaemia may well go undiagnosed, alcoholaemia alone being held responsible for bizarre behaviour or alteration in consciousness following the drinking of alcohol-containing beverages. In some cases, a patient brought into the casualty department with a provisional diagnosis of “drunkenness” is found to have a low blood sugar and the diagnosis hastily altered to the more socially acceptable one of “hypoglycaemia”, but without the cause of the hypoglycaemia ever being determined.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 110 , Issue 465 , March 1964 , pp. 228 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1964 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beckett, A. G., Livingstone, A. V., and Hill, V. R. (1962). Brit. med. J., ii, 580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, T. Mcp., and Harvey, A. M. (1941). J. Amer. med. Ass., 117, 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, W. C., Wilson, J. E., and Hulpieu, H. R. (1961). Quart. J. Stud. Alc., 22, 365.Google Scholar
Coulthard, A. J. (1958). J. Forens. Med., 5, 185.Google Scholar
Cummins, L. H. (1961). J. Pediat., 58, 23.Google Scholar
Field, J. B., and Williams, H. E. (1962). J. din. Invest., 41, 1357.Google Scholar
Forsander, O., Vartia, O. K., and Krusius, F. E. (1958). Ann. Med. exp. Fenn., 36, 416.Google Scholar
Freinkel, N., Singer, D. L., Gilbert, C. K., and Anderson, J. B. (1962). J. clin. Invest., 41, 1359.Google Scholar
Gadsen, R. H., Mellette, R. R., and Miller, W. C. (1958). J. Amer. med. Ass., 168, 1220.Google Scholar
Harger, R. N. (1961). Toxicology (Ed.: Stewart, C. P., and Stolman, A.), Vol. II. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Jeune, M., Cotte, J., and Nivelon, J. L. (1960). Pediatric., 15, 664.Google Scholar
McCollister, R. J., Flink, E. B., and Doe, R. P. (1960). J. lab. din. Med., 55, 98.Google Scholar
Neame, P. B., and Joubert, S. M. (1961). Lancet, 2, 893.Google Scholar
Peluffo, E., Scolpini, V., Grezzi, J., and Tarallo, N. (1958). Arch. Pediat. Urug., 29, 24.Google Scholar
Sinclair, H. M. (1953). Proc. Nutrition Soc., 14, 107.Google Scholar
Tucker, H. St.G., and Porter, W. B. (1942). Amer. J. med. Sci., 204, 559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vartia, O. K., Forsander, O. A., and Krusius, F. E. (1960). Quart. J. Stud. Alc., 21, 597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weill, J., and Gorouben, J. C. (1960). Bull. et Mem. Soc. med. Hp. Paris, 32, 1270.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.