The sugar content of the blood has interested many. Various investigators have suggested that there may be some relation between the sugar content of the blood of syphilitic patients and the progress of the disease. We undertook this study to ascertain any possible correlations.
With a few exceptions, the 201 blood samples forming the basis of the present paper were obtained from ambulant patients who came to the clinic. Therefore, there was no regulation of the intake of food, when food was permitted. No special attempt was made to select the patients; they were all suffering from syphilis. Among them were men and women, adults and children, white and colored, treated and untreated persons. In these investigations it has not been possible to follow up patients in whom relatively low or high values for sugar were obtained.
The analyses were made on whole blood. The method used was that of Folin and Wu.1
The cases have been grouped in three series. The first series consists of patients who were permitted to have their usual meals before being bled (tables 1, 2 and 3); the second series consists of patients who on the day of bleeding took no food before the operation (tables 4, 5 and 6); and the third series consists of a group of patients who were bled both after being permitted to have their usual food and after fasting, i. e., no food was taken on the day of bleeding until after the operation (tables 7, S and 9).