1 Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York
2 Department of Pediatrics, University of Alabama Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama
Dr. Klein is correct in suggesting that stress may be one of the causes of hyperglycemia in this birth weight group. His data are supportive of the possible role of stress or sepsis, as alluded to in our discussion.1 It is difficult, however, to describe these babies as nonstressed. In our series, the mortality rate of the group reported was 78% and of the 40 babies with recorded Apgar scores, all but nine (five from group 3) had one-minute Apgars of 6 or less.