Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To determine the association of ethanol intoxication with hypoglycemia in ED patients. ⋯ Hypoglycemia was uncommonly associated with ethanol intoxication, and was found almost exclusively among patients with several ethanol-positive visits. Glucose and ethanol concentrations do not show any linear correlation; patients with higher ethanol concentrations are not at higher risk of hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is not more likely to occur in ethanol-positive than in ethanol-negative patients. Initial glucose screening does not appear to be necessary for all patients suspected of intoxication; selective screening may be more appropriate.