Virginia Festa
Italy
Research Article
Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency, as Assessed by Fecal Elastase-1 Levels, in Diabetic Patients: An Estimate of Prevalence in Prospective Studies
Author(s): Angelo Andriulli, Antonio Massimo Ippolito, Virginia Festa, Maria Rosa Valvano, Antonio Merla, Fabrizio Bossa, Grazia Niro, Grazia Napolitano, Luigi Benini and Italo VantiniAngelo Andriulli, Antonio Massimo Ippolito, Virginia Festa, Maria Rosa Valvano, Antonio Merla, Fabrizio Bossa, Grazia Niro, Grazia Napolitano, Luigi Benini and Italo Vantini
Objective: To assess the prevalence of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) inpatients with diabetes mellitus (DM).
Design: Meta-analysis of prospective, observational studies that used fecal elastase-1 estimation to determine PEI in patients with DM.
Data extraction: A total of 11 studies out of 1156 retrieved references, published between 2000 and 2013, fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The primary outcome measure was proportions of patients with DM and PEI.
Results: Of the 2891 patients enrolled, 921 (31.8%) showed abnormal (i.e, <200 μg/g) fecal elastase-1 excretion. Prevalence of PEI varied across studies, with figures ranging from 5% to 57%. After pooling rates from individual reports, a weighted prevalenceof 31.6% with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of 24.8-39.3 was estimat.. View More»