Background: This study assessed pancreatic functions by investigating fecal elastase-1 (FE-1) levels in stool specimens in children with primary and secondary malnutrition.
Methods: A total of 139 malnourished children who were hospitalized and followed up at a tertiary care pediatrics clinic and 23 healthy children with no known systemic disease or malnutrition were included in this study. Malnourished patients were divided into four groups according to underlying diagnosis including primary malnutrition (N.=51), cystic fibrosis (N.=44), celiac disease (N.=12) and secondary malnutrition (N.=32; remaining patients with various diagnoses). Patient's demographic characteristics and laboratory data were investigated. FE-1 levels of the patients and healthy subjects were evaluated.
Results: FE-1 levels in patients with cystic fibrosis, primary malnutrition, and celiac disease, and other patients with secondary malnutrition were significantly lower than those in the control group.
Conclusions: Pancreatic enzymes are used due to pancreatic failure in cases of cystic fibrosis, and patients benefit considerably from treatment. This study shows that pancreatic failure may also occur in cases of primary and secondary malnutrition apart from cystic fibrosis, emphasizing the likelihood of pancreatic enzyme support to be useful in terms of pancreatic failure developing secondarily in cases of primary malnutrition.