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We demonstrate that methane present on breath testing is significantly associated with constipation in both IBS and functional constipation. These results suggest there may be merit in using breath testing in constipation. Moreover, methane may be used to identify candidates for antibiotic treatment of constipation.

This study demonstrates that the breath test findings in IBS appear to be valid. While this meta-analysis does not suggest that the breath test findings imply SIBO, the abnormal fermentation timing and dynamics of the breath test findings support a role for abnormal intestinal bacterial distribution in IBS.

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Objective. Assess proxy respondent effects on health care evaluations by Medicare beneficiaries. Data Source. 110,215 respondents from the nationally representative 2001 CAHPS® Medicare Fee‐for‐Service Survey. Study Design/Data Collection/Extraction Methods. We compare the effects of both proxy respondents and proxy assistance (reading, writing, or translating) on 23 “objective” report items and four “subjective” global measures of health care experiences using propensity‐score‐weighted regression. We assess whether proxy effects differ among spouses, other relatives, or nonrelatives. Principal Findings. Proxy respondents provide less positive evaluations of beneficiary health care experiences than otherwise similar self‐reporting beneficiaries for more subjective global ratings (average effect of 0.21 standard deviations); differences are smaller for relatively objective and specific report items. Proxy assistance differences are similar, but about half as large. Reports from spouse proxy respondents are more positive than those from other proxies and are similar to what would have been reported by the beneficiaries themselves. Standard regression techniques may overestimate proxy effects in this instance. Conclusions. One should treat proxy responses to subjective ratings cautiously. Even seemingly innocuous reading, writing, and translation by proxies may influence answers. Spouses may be accurate proxies for the elderly in evaluations of health care.