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. 2018 Jan-Feb;22(1):121-125.
doi: 10.4103/ijem.IJEM_139_17.

Exocrine Dysfunction Correlates with Endocrinal Impairment of Pancreas in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

H R Prasanna Kumar  1 , H Basavana Gowdappa  1 , Tejashwi Hosmani  1 , Tejashri Urs  2
Affiliations

Exocrine Dysfunction Correlates with Endocrinal Impairment of Pancreas in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

H R Prasanna Kumar et al. Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2018 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic abnormal metabolic condition, which manifests elevated blood sugar level over a prolonged period. The pancreatic endocrine system generally gets affected during diabetes, but often abnormal exocrine functions are also manifested due to its proximity to the endocrine system. Fecal elastase-1 (FE-1) is found to be an ideal biomarker to reflect the exocrine insufficiency of the pancreas.

Aim: The aim of this study was conducted to assess exocrine dysfunction of the pancreas in patients with type-2 DM (T2DM) by measuring FE levels and to associate the level of hyperglycemia with exocrine pancreatic dysfunction.

Methodology: A prospective, cross-sectional comparative study was conducted on both T2DM patients and healthy nondiabetic volunteers. FE-1 levels were measured using a commercial kit (Human Pancreatic Elastase ELISA BS 86-01 from Bioserv Diagnostics). Data analysis was performed based on the important statistical parameters such as mean, standard deviation, standard error, t-test-independent samples, and Chi-square test/cross tabulation using SPSS for Windows version 20.0.

Results: Statistically nonsignificant (P = 0.5051) relationship between FE-1 deficiency and age was obtained, which implied age as a noncontributing factor toward exocrine pancreatic insufficiency among diabetic patients. Statistically significant correlation (P = 0.003) between glycated hemoglobin and FE-1 levels was also noted. The association between retinopathy (P = 0.001) and peripheral pulses (P = 0.001) with FE-1 levels were found to be statistically significant.

Conclusion: This study validates the benefit of FE-1 estimation, as a surrogate marker of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, which remains unmanifest and subclinical.

Keywords: Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency; fecal elastase-1; glycated hemoglobin; type 2 diabetes mellitus.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

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