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Book

Factitious Hypoglycemia

Dana H. Awad, Srinivasa B. Gokarakonda  1 , Marium Ilahi  2
In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
.
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Book

Factitious Hypoglycemia

Dana H. Awad et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

Factitious hypoglycemia is the intentional attempt to induce low blood glucose levels. It remains one of the diagnostic challenges that endocrinologists face during their practice and usually leads to costly, unnecessary investigations to rule out other causes of hypoglycemia.

When insulin is self-injected, laboratory studies will show high plasma insulin levels in combination with low plasma C-peptide levels during the hypoglycemic episode. With sulfonylurea consumption, the clinical picture may mimic an insulinoma with high plasma levels of both C-peptide and insulin; a positive drug screen can render the diagnosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Dana Awad declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Srinivasa Gokarakonda declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Marium Ilahi declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

References

    1. Murray BJ. Hypoglycemia secondary to factitious hyperinsulinism. Postgrad Med. 1981 Feb;69(2):237, 240-1. - PubMed
    1. Grunberger G, Weiner JL, Silverman R, Taylor S, Gorden P. Factitious hypoglycemia due to surreptitious administration of insulin. Diagnosis, treatment, and long-term follow-up. Ann Intern Med. 1988 Feb;108(2):252-7. - PubMed
    1. Bhatnagar D. Diagnosis of factitious hypoglycaemia. Br J Hosp Med. 1988 Aug;40(2):140-2. - PubMed
    1. Fu Z, Gilbert ER, Liu D. Regulation of insulin synthesis and secretion and pancreatic Beta-cell dysfunction in diabetes. Curr Diabetes Rev. 2013 Jan 01;9(1):25-53. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tattersall R, Gregory R, Selby C, Kerr D, Heller S. Course of brittle diabetes: 12 year follow up. BMJ. 1991 May 25;302(6787):1240-3. - PMC - PubMed

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