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ARAB JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY, vol.22, no.3, pp.236-239, 2021 (SCI-Expanded)
Background and study aim: We evaluated exocrine pancreas functions using a noninvasive indicator in a case-control study conducted on children and adolescents diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Patients and methods: Sixty-seven patients who participated in a summer camp were enrolled in this study. Nineteen healthy children in the same age group were assigned to the control group. Fecal pancre-atic elastase was assayed using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Values higher than 200 mg/g were considered an indication of sufficient exocrine pancreatic functioning, values between 100 mg/g and 200 mg/g were considered mild exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, and values below 100 mg/g were considered severe exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Results: The mean concentration of fecal elastase was 158.38 +/- 59.67 mg/g. The patients were assigned to three groups according to these values. Thirteen patients (22%) had sufficient fecal elastase levels, whereas 36 patients (62%) had mildly insufficient levels, and nine patients (16%) had severely insufficient fecal elastase concentrations. The levels of fecal elastase, amylase, lipase, and zinc were significantly dif-ferent between the patients and controls (p < 0.001). Only the duration of diabetes was significantly dif-ferent between patients with different severities of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (p = 0.037). Additionally, the group with severe pancreatic insufficiency had more frequent hypoglycemic attacks. Conclusion: Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency may develop in children with diabetes, and hypoglycemia attacks are observed more frequently depending on the severity of pancreatic insufficiency. (c) 2021 Pan-Arab Association of Gastroenterology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.