A Real-world Big Data Study Evaluating Glucose Levels by Sex and Age Among Healthy Children

Abstract Purpose: To assess the distribution of glucose levels by age and sex in healthy children using a large-scale population-based cohort. Methods: A retrospective study with real-world de-identified data from a large, state mandated health fund in Israel among healthy children aged 2 to 18 years old between 2006 and 2019. Age, sex, and BMI differences in mean glucose levels were evaluated using 3-way Anova. Results: Study included 130,170 blood samples from 117,411 children, 53.3% were female. After adjusting for ager boys had higher glucose levels than girls, with a mean of 89.21 ±8.66 mg/dL vs. 87.59 ±8.35 (p<0.001). Compared to the 15 to 18 year-olds (88.49 mg/dl ±7.63), 2 to 5 year-olds had lower glucose levels (84.19 ±10.65, (p<0.001)), 11 to 14 year-olds had higher glucose (90.40 ±7.42 (p<0.001)) and 6 to 10 year-olds showed no difference (88.45 ±8.25). Among our cohort, 33.0% (n=42,991) had a BMI percentile record the same year as their glucose test result. There was a weak yet significant positive association between blood glucose levels and BMI (Pearson coefficient <0.1). Conclusions: Our large cohort indicates that boys have higher glucose levels than girls, as do adolescents compared to younger children. This finding is important for the delivery of adequate health care, screening for illness and avoiding unnecessary investigations and tests.