Abstract
Gastric motility was evaluated in chronic dialysis patients, and the role of delayed gastric emptying in the occurrence of gastrointestinal symptoms and nutritional status was compared in diabetics and non-diabetics. We classified 34 diabetics (19 hemodialysis (HD) patients and 15 continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients) and 45 non-diabetics (23 HD patients and 22 CAPD patients) as either having delayed gastric emptying (D group) or normal gastric emptying (N group) according to the serum levels of acetoaminophen following oral administration. Diabetics included more D group patients than non-diabetics (65% vs. 36%). D group included 39% of non-diabetic (nonDM) HD patients, 58% of diadetic (DM) HD patients, 32% of nonDM-CAPD patients and 73% of DM-CAPD patients. D group non-diabetics did not complain of gastrointestinal symptoms irrespective of HD or CAPD. However, the number of patients who had symptoms was significantly greater in D group DM-CAPD patients than in DM-HD patients. There were no significant differences in nutritional variables between D group and N group among HD patients, irrespective of diabetes. In contrast, D group DM-CAPD patients showed the lowest muscle volume of all CAPD patients. It is concluded that delayed gastric emptying might be associated with the occurrence of gastrointestinal symptoms or poor nutritional status in DM-CAPD patients.
