OBJECTIVE -Data on the prevalence of abnormal gastric emptying in diabetic patients are still lacking. The relation between gastric emptying and dyspeptic symptoms assessed during gastric emptying measurement has not yet been investigated. The aim was to investigate the prevalence of delayed gastric emptying in a large cohort of unselected diabetic patients and to investigate the relation between gastric emptying and gastrointestinal sensations experienced in the 2 weeks before and during the test meal, prospectively.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -Gastric emptying was evaluated in 186 patients (106 with type 1 diabetes, mean duration of diabetes 11.6 Ϯ 11.3 years) using 100 mg 13 C-enriched octanoic acid added to a solid meal.RESULTS -Gastric emptying was significantly slower in the diabetic subjects than in the healthy volunteers (T 50 : 99.5 Ϯ 35.4 vs. 76.8 Ϯ 21.4 min, P Ͻ 0.003; Ret 120 min : 30.6 Ϯ 17.2 vs. 20.4 Ϯ 9.7%, P Ͻ 0.006). Delayed gastric emptying was observed in 51 (28%) diabetic subjects. The sensations experienced in the 2 weeks before the test were weakly correlated with the sensation scored during the gastric emptying test. Sensations assessed during the gastric emptying test did predict gastric emptying to some extent (r ϭ 0.46, P Ͻ 0.0001), whereas sensations experienced in the previous 2 weeks did not.CONCLUSIONS -This prospective study shows that delayed gastric emptying can be observed in 28% of unselected patients with diabetes. Upper gastrointestinal sensations scored during the gastric emptying tests do predict the rate of gastric emptying to some extent and sensation experienced during daily life does not. Diabetes Care 26:3116 -3122, 2003T he prevalence of delayed gastric emptying in patients with diabetes has been subject to debate for several decades. Cross-sectional studies using scintigraphic techniques to measure gastric emptying have shown delayed gastric emptying in patients with diabetes varying from 30 to 60% (1-11). However, there are several important limitations to these studies. First, the vast majority of these studies have been performed in small numbers of patients or in selected patients, which may account for the high percentage of patients showing delayed gastric emptying in some of these studies. Second, none of these studies has been performed during relative euglycemic conditions, whereas recent studies have provided evidence that hyperglycemia has a substantial effect on the rate of gastric emptying (12,13). After taking the aforementioned into account, the prevalence of delayed gastric emptying in diabetic patients who are not selected for gastrointestinal symptoms has yet to be determined.Previous studies have reported a weak association between gastric emptying and upper gastrointestinal symptoms experienced by patients in the period preceding the gastric emptying test, with the exception of the study performed by Jones et al. (10). They studied a large cohort of diabetic subjects over a period Ͼ10 years and reported that abdominal bloating and fullness were as...

No abstract

No abstract

Fatigue is an important feature in IBD in remission, adversely affecting the quality of life. It does not, however, affect all patients, nor does it seem to be the result of hypocortisolism.