TITLE:
Gastroparesis among Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetic Patients in the United Arab Emirates
AUTHORS:
Gassan Darwiche, Safaa Kasim Mohammed, Nesreen Aldawi, Sijomol Skaria, Yohannes Tesfa
KEYWORDS:
Diabetes Mellitus, Gastric Emptying, Ultrasonography, United Arab Emirates
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Diabetes Mellitus,
Vol.4 No.2,
April
21,
2014
ABSTRACT: Aims: Delayed
gastric emptying (GE)may have a major effect on the management of
diabetic patients by causing upper gastrointestinal symptoms, impaired oral
drug absorption and contributing to poor blood sugar
control. Although the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has one of the highest
prevalence of diabetes in the world, studies focusing on the prevalence of
diabetes gastroparesis among these diabetics have never been reported
previously. The aim of this study was to investigate gastroparesis among
randomly selected Emirati type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients referred to a
national diabetes center in the UAE. Methods: The study was designed as a
controlled, single-blinded study. Using a standardized ultrasound technique, GE
was studied in thirty-one randomly recruited type 1 and type 2 diabetic
patients and ten normal healthy volunteers. The gastric emptying rate (GER) was
estimated and expressed as the percentage reduction in antral cross-sectional
area from 15 to 90 min after the ingestion of a semisolid breakfast meal.
Results:In comparison to healthy volunteers, diabetic
patients showed overall significantly wider mean values of the fasting as well
as the postprandial antral areas. The mean value of GER in these Emirati
diabetic patients was estimated at 17%, which was less than half of that in the
healthy volunteers (50%). Statistically the difference was highly significant (p 32%. Consequently, 71% (22 of 31) of the diabetic patients in
this study had more or less pronounced delays in GER (gastroparesis).Conclusions:The results from
the present study indicate a higher prevalence of gastroparesis among randomly
selected Emirati type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients, than in any other study
previously published around the world. This is in line with previous reports
about the high prevalence of diabetes complications among UAE diabetics. A
larger study is needed to confirm these results.