Study design (if review, criteria of inclusion for studies)
Randomized double-blind crossover study
Participants
Twenty-one patients with cystic fibrosis and pancreatic insufficiency (14 female, mean age 20.6 +/- 11.5 years, range 8.8-41.9) completed the study.
Interventions
subjects were randomly assigned to two consecutive, 2-week phases using an EC buffered PE product and conventional EC-PE product.
Outcome measures
Seventy-two hour stool collections from each phase were analyzed for energy, fat, and nitrogen content and expressed as percent of estimated intake
Main results
There was no significant difference in percent malabsorption of energy (19.4% vs. 19.0%), fat (20.7% vs. 20.2%), or nitrogen (10.4% vs. 10.7%) between the EC buffered PE product and the conventional EC-PE product. However, patients taking the EC buffered PE product received less enzyme based on actual enzyme activity measured in vitro (3,468 +/- 1,434 U lipase/g fat vs. 3,978 +/- 1,474 U lipase/g fat, P < 0.02).
Authors' conclusions
In the doses used, nutrient absorption of patients taking EC buffered PE preparation offers no advantage over a conventional EC-PE preparation.