Correlation between blood glucose and cerebrospinal fluid glucose levels in patients with differences in glucose metabolism

Qing Che Tan; Xiao Wei Xing; Jia Tang Zhang; Mian Wang He; Yu Bao Ma; Lei Wu; Xiaolin Wang; Hong Fen Wang; Sheng Yuan Yu

doi:10.3389/fneur.2023.1103026

Correlation between blood glucose and cerebrospinal fluid glucose levels in patients with differences in glucose metabolism

Front Neurol. 2023 Apr 27:14:1103026. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1103026. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Qing Che Tan¹, Xiao Wei Xing², Jia Tang Zhang³, Mian Wang He³, Yu Bao Ma³, Lei Wu³, Xiaolin Wang³, Hong Fen Wang³, Sheng Yuan Yu³

Affiliations

¹ Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China.
² Hainan Branch of People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Sanya, China.
³ First Affiliated Hospital of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Objectives: We aimed to determine a method to identify normal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) glucose levels by examining the correlation between blood and CSF glucose levels in patients with normal and abnormal glucose metabolism.

Methods: One hundred ninety-five patients were divided into two groups according to their glucose metabolism. The glucose levels were obtained from CSF and fingertip blood at 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0 h before lumbar puncture. SPSS 22.0 software was used for the statistical analysis.

Results: In both the normal and abnormal glucose metabolism groups, CSF glucose levels increased with blood glucose levels at 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0 h before lumbar puncture. In the normal glucose metabolism group, the CSF/blood glucose ratio range was 0.35-0.95 at 0-6 h before lumbar puncture, and the CSF/average blood glucose ratio range was 0.43-0.74. In the abnormal glucose metabolism group, the CSF/blood glucose ratio range was 0.25-1.2 at 0-6 h before lumbar puncture, and the CSF/average blood glucose ratio range was 0.33-0.78.

Conclusion: The CSF glucose level is influenced by the blood glucose level 6 h before lumbar puncture. In patients with normal glucose metabolism, direct measurement of the CSF glucose level can be used to determine whether the CSF level is normal. However, in patients with abnormal or unclear glucose metabolism, the CSF/average blood glucose ratio should be used to determine whether the CSF glucose level is normal.

Keywords: CSF/blood glucose ratio; abnormal glucose metabolism; blood glucose; central nervous system infection; cerebrospinal fluid glucose; correlation; normal glucose metabolism.