November 28, 2001
Blood Tests and Insulin Injections
Question from Atlanta, Georgia, USA:
Our 10 year old daughter was recently screened for diabetes, and had a random blood glucose of 106 mg/dl [5.9 mmol/L], but her triglyceride level was 425 mg/dl. I have read that a cause of this can be because of insulin dependent diabetes. Because her 106 mg/dl [5.9 mmol/L] is within normal means, and yet at the high end of the scale, can we believe that there is no glucose intolerance in our daughter, and the triglycerides level is due to another factor? Where should we go from here?
Answer:
The triglyceride test needs to be done in a fasting to make sense of the value. A random blood glucose of 106 mg/dl [5.9 mmol/L] is well within the normal range. As such, the first thing to do is to arrange to have the triglyceride test done again while your daughter is fasting.
LD
