Hypoglycemia in patients with renal failure

Of a total of 1545 admissions of end stage renal failure (ESRD) patients, f ifty-six (3.6%) were admitted during a ten-year period with hypoglycemia. T hirty-eight of them were diabetic while the others were nondiabetic patient s. The most common etiology found to be drug-induced hypoglycemia in 26 (46 %) patients. In 22 (39%) cases, sepsis was the contributing cause of hypogl ycemia. Severe malnutrition caused 7% of hypoglycemic episodes. Of the pati ents, 18 (32%) with ESRD eventually died, none of them were from the drug i nduced group. However, mortality rate in the sepsis induced hypoglycemia gr oup was 66%, and of the malnutrition group 17% of the deaths. Thus, hypogly cemia is frequent in ESRD patients, and is fatal if associated with either sepsis or malnutrition.