Relation between clinical features and gastric emptying time in diabetic patients

BACKGROUND: Gastroparesis is characterized by delayed gastric emptying. This pathology is usually observed in patients with diabetes. One standard approach to quantitative assessment of gastric emptying is scintigraphic study. The aim of present study was to perform scintigraphic study of gastric emptying time in patient with diabetes and to find its correlation with patients' characteristics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Gastric emptying was assessed in 19 patients with type 2 diabetes (mean age of 61.04 ± 6.09 years) and 6 healthy volunteers. Characteristics of the patients were sex, age, duration of diabetes, blood sugar and serum HbA1c level. RESULTS: Results of present study revealed that gastric emptying half time was significantly larger in patients with type 2 diabetes as compared with healthy volunteers (P-value < 0.05). While correlation of sex, age, duration of diabetes and blood sugar with gastric emptying time was not statistically significant, HbA1c level had significant effect on gastric emptying time. CONCLUSION: Results of this prospective study indicated that level of serum HbA1c is an effecting factor on gastric emptying time in patients with type 2 diabetes; however, these preliminary findings should be validated in larger and well-designed studies.