Treating hypoglycemia, or low blood glucose, in newborns are safe and can prevent brain damage, according to a New Zealand research. The study, which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, revealed that infants treated for hypoglycemia at the recommended threshold level lower their risk of suffering from neurological problems when they reach two years old.

Glucose levels that are too low or too high were found to cause brain injury in newborns and possibly result in severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. Hypoglycemia may affect 15 percent of newborns, but the exact level at which to treat the condition is unknown, according to researchers at the University of Auckland, whose study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

In the research, the team studied more than 400 newborns with the risk of hypoglycemia at the Waikato Hospital in Hamilton. After testing the infants’ blood glucose periodically for up to 48 hours, the researchers found that around half of the participants had low blood glucose levels than the generally accepted threshold for newborns.

To bring their blood sugar level above threshold, the infants were treated with additional feedings of oral or intravenous glucose. When they reached two years of age, the participants were tested to measure their developmental progress, cognitive and language skills, vision, hearing, physical coordination and executive functioning, or the ability to concentrate and carry out tasks appropriate for their age.

The researchers said that they did not find any deficits in any of these areas, collectively known as neurosensory impairments, among children who needed treatment and those who did not. Of the infants who were treated, the team found that those who later developed high blood glucose levels were more likely to have a neurosensory impairment at two years of age than other infants in the study.

Infants whose glucose levels fluctuated widely during the first 48 hours of birth were also more likely to have impairments, according to the researchers. “It may be that it’s not only important to keep blood glucose levels from dropping too low, but also to keep them from swinging too high, too fast,” said Professor Jane Harding, the study’s lead author who works at the University of Auckland’s Liggins Institute.

“If the baby has regular blood monitoring to monitor their blood sugar levels and are treated to keep their levels above the safety threshold that we have determined in the study which is 2.6 milimoles per litre, then those babies seem to be protected from any potential damage due to the low sugars, so that’s a very reassuring message for families,” Harding said in an interview with Radio New Zealand News.

Additional studies are needed to confirm the potential links between high or fluctuating glucose levels and neurosensory impairment, the researchers noted.

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