Pancreatic Enzyme Dosing and Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Children with Cystic Fibrosis

The aim of this study is to determine if higher than the recommended dosing for pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) improves GI symptoms in children with Cystic fibrosis. Children with CF and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) were categorized into two groups based on PERT dosing: less than 10,000 lipase units/kg/day, or greater than 10,000 lipase units/kg/day. Methods: 142 pediatric CF patients from the Nebraska Regional CF Center were included in the retrospective evaluation. Patients were split into two different groups based on their pancreatic enzyme dosing. Group 1 was greater than 10,000 lipase units/kg/day of enzymes, and group 2 was less than 10,000 lipase units/kg/day. Results: The p-value of the results was 0.5992, meaning that there was no statistical difference between the GI symptoms for those who take less or greater than 10,000 lipase units/kg/day of enzymes. The group that takes greater than 10,000 lipase units/kg/day are 1.194 times more likely to experience GI symptoms compared to the group with less than 10,000 lipase units per day. Conclusion: Based on the analysis that was completed on the data, there is no statistical significance between those that take greater or less than 10,000 lipase units/kg/day of pancreatic enzymes.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/surp2021/1018/thumbnail.jp