Transient neonatal hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia: perinatal predictors of length and cost of stay

Admission to neonatal care causes separation of infants from their parents, can adversely affect breast-feeding and is associated with painful procedures. Our aim was to identify perinatal factors and cost of care associated with transient neonatal hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia (HH). Infants born after 35 weeks of gestation admitted because of hypoglycaemia were studied. The neonates were divided into two groups (HH and non-HH), and their length and cost of care were compared and perinatal factors predicting those outcomes explored. Forty of the 474 infants admitted with hypoglycaemia were diagnosed with HH. The HH group had a lower median (IQR) glucose level on admission compared to the non-HH group (p £9140 with an area under the ROC curve of 0.956. GIRmax > 13.9 mg/kg/min predicted admission cost > £9140 with 86% sensitivity and 93% specificity.