Pancreatic exocrine disfunction in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate exocrine pancreatic function in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus during the course of the disease.Fecal elastase varied between 24.4 and 169.6 μg /g (median 134.5 μg /g) in children with type 1 DM and concomitant PEI. Number of children with diarrhea was not significantly different between children with low pancreatic elastase levels and those with normal levels (43.0% versus 35.5%, p=0.359). The remainder of the children with type 1 DM had fecal elastase-1 levels between 201.4 and 810.5 μg /g stool (median 650.7 μg /g). Differences between the type 1 DM patients without PEI and the comparison group were not significant (p=0.112).Median daily fecal fat excretion in type 1 DM patients with PEI was 8.31 g/day (min-mах 7.81–9.21 g/day), which was significantly higher than in type 1 DM children without PEI (3.87 g/day; min-mах 2.97–6.33 g/day; р= 0.0003). There was no significant difference in daily fecal fat excretion between children with type 1 DM without signs of PEI and children in the control group (2.91 g/d; min-max: 2.31–5.74 g/d; р= 0.091).The results of this study demonstrate PEI in children with long-standing type 1 DM.Fecal elastase-1 concentration significantly correlates with duodenal exocrine elastase output. Fecal elastase-1 levels have a good correlation with fecal fat excretion, which was measured by employing the acid steatocrit test.