Hypoglycaemia And Neonatal Neurodevelopment, HANND
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The impact of neonatal hypoglycaemia on developmental outcomes: unravelling the causes of phenotypic diversity
IRAS ID
147252
Contact name
Mark J Dunne
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Manchester
Research summary
Low plasma glucose concentrations – hypoglycaemia, in the neonatal period is important because it is one of the most common problems encountered in neonatology and it associates with brain injury and poor neurodevelopmental outcome. The prevalence of this condition is increasing due to rises in the incidence of preterm births and maternal diabetes and obesity, which predispose babies to hypoglycaemia. Neonatal hypoglycaemia is thought to affect as many as 15% of otherwise healthy babies and is more widespread in resource-poor countries. Despite this, the numerical definition of hypoglycaemia is unclear as it the point at which medical interventions start. Our Centre is national service Centre for Congenital Hyperinsulinism (CHI), which is the most common cause of hypoglycaemia in neonates. Here, we aim to derive improved and clinically relevant definitions of hypoglycaemia by analysing specific markers in blood samples from children with CHI and other problems with glucose regulation. These markers will be derived from metabolomic investigations which can detect changes in specific chemicals and patterns of chemical processes in the body and epigenomic investigations which can detect changes in how genes are expressed. We expect to test 150 blood samples from babies with hypoglycaemia, hyperglycaemia and newborns admitted to the neonatal unit for reasons other than problems with glucose regulation. In parallel, our team will develop a dried blood spot test, which will detect chemical changes in very small blood samples, i.e. from a heel prick sample from babies. Data from these studies will be stored in a secure database and analysed in association with genetic data and clinical features, such as the duration of treatment, response to standard medication, need for pancreatic surgery and long-term brain damage. It is expected that our research will help derive a better system of diagnosing and treating hypoglycaemia in CHI and other diseases.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NW/1045
Date of REC Opinion
8 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion