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Canadian Medical Association Journal logoLink to Canadian Medical Association Journal
. 1975 Mar 8;112(5):590–592.

Blood glucose in intoxicated chronic alcoholics.

P Kallas, E M Sellers
PMCID: PMC1956259  PMID: 1116089

Abstract

Chronic alcoholics may present with hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. Because alcohol induces glycogenolysis, chronic alcoholics usually have higher blood glucose values than do nonalcoholic subjects. In a prospective study of blood glucose concentration in 201 chronic alcoholics, blood alcohol concentration, sex, weight, type of beverage consumed and time since last eating were not generally associated with lower blood glucose values. The infrequency of hypoglycemia in ambulatory chronic alcoholics may reflect the relatively ready availability of hostels, detoxification centres and hospitals in large cities. It is, however, important to be aware of the possible occurrence of hypoglycemia in chronic alcoholics, particularly when community facilities for the chronic alcoholic are not available.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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