Hydrogen breath test and lactose malabsorption among diarrheic cases

ABSTRACT

To study the efficacy of HBT versus stool analysis test in identifying lactose malabsorption, 150 infants with diarrhea and 30 normal controls aged 2-12 months were included in this study 55.3%, 52.7% and 48% of diarrheal cases had acidic stool +ve clinitest and +ve HBT respectively. False positive results were found among controls, since 23.3% and 16.7% of them had acidic stool and +ve HBT were more increased significantly among malnourished infants as well as ones with diarrheal duration > 1 week and insignificantly among infants aged 6-12 months, males and nonexclusive breast-fed cases [mixed, artificially and weaned-fed ones]. The relative degree of lactose malabsorption among +ve HBT cases measured as mean peak hydrogen excretion [PPM] was more increased significantly in infants aged 6-12 months [96.7 +/- 11.32] than ones aged <6 months [9.15 +/- 10.3], in malnourished infants [98.5 +/- 11.7] than well-nourished ones [91.4 +/- 10.4] and in intolerant cases [100.3 +/- 4.19] than tolerant ones [91.7 +/- 10.7], while the mean peak H2 excretion was more decreased significantly in exclusion breast-fed cases [90.3 +/- 8.9] than other fed groups [94.8 +/- 17.5]