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. 2023 Feb 9;7(1):e001842. doi: 10.1136/bmjpo-2022-001842

Table 3.

Factors associated with performing diagnostic fast

Variable
N=145*
Diagnostic fast
N=69
No diagnostic fast
N=76
P value
Age at presentation (years), median (IQR) 1.94 (1.23–3.60) 2.12 (1.20–3.96) 0.51†
Sex, % female (n) 62% (43) 49% (37) 0.13‡
Race, % White (n) 68% (47) 57% (43) 0.17‡
Ethnicity, % Hispanic (n) 0% (0) 3.9% (3) 0.25‡
Weight-for-age percentile, median (IQR), N=140 29.2 (10.5–59.5) 30.5 (14.0–54.5) 0.61†
Height-for-age percentile, median (IQR), N=141 22.0 (7.2–55.0) 29.3 (9.0–60.0) 0.55†
Weight status category, % (n), N=140 0.68‡
 Underweight 15% (10) 11% (8)
 Normal 74% (50) 72% (52)
 Overweight/obese 12% (8) 17% (12)
Prior history of hypoglycaemia, % (n) 23% (16) 17% (13) 0.41‡
Medical/surgical history, % (n) 42% (29) 53% (40) 0.25‡
Abnormal physical examination findings, % (n) 5.8% (4) 5.3% (4) >0.99‡
Presenting illness features, % (n)
 Gastroenteritis 29% (20) 21% (16) 0.34‡
 Vomiting 36% (25) 51% (39) 0.09‡
 Diarrhoea 17% (12) 11% (8) 0.34‡
 Upper respiratory tract infection 25% (17) 20% (15) 0.55‡
 Otitis media 1.5% (1) 4.0% (3) 0.62‡
 Fever 30% (21) 30% (23) >0.99‡
 Other 15% (10) 11% (8) 0.62‡
Illness duration (days), median (IQR), N=123 2 (1–5) 2 (1–4) 0.58†
History of decreased oral intake (days), median (IQR), N=78 2 (1–3) 2 (1–3) 0.73†
Symptomatic hypoglycaemia at presentation, % (n) 71% (49) 58% (44) 0.12‡
 Autonomic symptoms 4.4% (3) 6.6% (5) 0.72‡
 Neuroglycopenic symptoms 70% (48) 55% (42) 0.09‡
Labs at initial presentation
 Plasma glucose (mmol/L(mg/dL)), median (IQR) 2.2 (1.8–2.7)
(40 (32–49))
2.6 (2.3–3.0)
(47 (41–55))
0.002†
 Plasma glucose<2.8 mmol/L (<50 mg/dL), % (n) 80% (55) 62% (47) 0.03‡
 Positive plasma or urine ketones, % (n), N=82 83% (29) 94% (44) 0.16‡
 Serum bicarbonate (mmol/L), mean±SD, N=91 17±4.0 16±4.0 0.26§
Other abnormal findings on presenting or baseline evaluation,¶ % (n), N=111 38% (22) 47% (25) 0.34‡

*Unless otherwise noted.

†Wilcoxon rank sum test.

‡Fisher’s exact test.

§T-test.

¶Including transaminases, lactate, ammonia, cortisol, growth hormone, IGF-I, IGFBP-3, acylcarnitine profile, carnitine profile, urine organic acids.