Observations in Hypoglycæmia: IV. Body Temperature and Coma

Abstract

Whereas fall of body temperature is always a danger signal in ordinary starvation and only occurs just before the end, in hypoglycaemia changes of temperature take place in an early stage parallel with the characteristic neuropsychiatric signs. Many workers (Sakel, Gellhorn, Fortuyn and others) have observed and commented on the drop of temperature in coma. The present paper is an attempt to describe the fluctuations of temperature during insulin treatment of psychoses and their correlation with the clinical signs of hypoglycaemia and to discuss their significance.