Small-bowel bacterial overgrowth in children with chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, or both☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
Patients
Patients were 53 children (aged 2 months to 12 years) referred for study of chronic diarrhea or abdominal pain during a 10-month period. Chronic diarrhea was defined according to age: more than one liquid stool after each meal before age 6 months and more than three loose stools daily in older children, for more than 1 month. Abdominal pain was considered chronic when it occurred at least 3 days a week for more than 1 month. Abdominal pain was identified in infants by mothers reporting intense
RESULTS
Eighteen patients (34%) had a positive BHT result (group 1); 35 patients (66%) had a negative result (group 2). Clinical data in the four groups are reported in Table I. Children in group 1 were younger than in group 2 (p <0.001), 89% of patients of group 1 being less than 2 years of age. Results of bacterial cultures and parasitologic examination of stools were negative in the children in group 1, except for Clostridium spp. in one. In group 2, bacterial cultures and parasitologic examination
DISCUSSION
Our data confirm that SBBO may be a common cause of chronic digestive symptoms in children, as suggested by previous reports,12, 13, 14, 15 even in the absence of predisposing conditions. SBBO might be especially frequent in children with chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, or both, before the age of 2 years.
Because of the lack of microbiologic cultures of small bowel aspirate, the criterion used for a diagnosis of SBBO (i.e., a positive BHT result) might be considered controversial. However,
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Pierre Bougnères for his work on the manuscript.
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Cited by (59)
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2018, Adult Short Bowel Syndrome: Nutritional, Medical, and Surgical ManagementLong-term health-related quality of life of patients with pediatric onset intestinal failure
2015, Journal of Pediatric SurgeryCitation Excerpt :Intestinal bacterial overgrowth is a common complication of IF and may cause diarrhea, bowel distension, and frequent abdominal pain. To treat bacterial overgrowth rotating oral antibiotics can be used empirically [4,22]. Among our IF patients, however, use of antibiotics was unrelated to the frequency of pain.
A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial on probiotics in small bowel bacterial overgrowth in children treated with omeprazole
2013, Jornal de PediatriaCitation Excerpt :The results suggest a placebo-effect of the PPI, since 18/70 were not compliant; only four reported no significant improvement, all of which in the non-compliant group. A cohort study by Boissieu et al. in 53 children, aged between 2 months and 12 years, with complaints of chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, or both, reported SBBO as a frequent cause (34%), especially before the age of 2 years.22 Scarpellini et al. reported the prevalence of SBBO to be as high as 65% in children aged 3 to 16 years with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).23
Short- and long-term effects of a lactose-restricted diet and probiotics in children with chronic abdominal pain: A retrospective study
2012, Complementary Therapies in Clinical PracticeCitation Excerpt :However, this is an invasive method. The H2 breath test is a non-invasive alternative with good sensitivity and specificity, respectively 75–93% and 78–100%.19–21 In this study we chose to use a lactose H2 breath test.
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From the Service de Pédiatrie, the Laboratoire d'Explorations Fonctionnelles Respiratoires, and the Laboratoire de Bactériologie, Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, Paris, France
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Reprint requests: D. de Boissieu, MD, Service du Pr Badoual, Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, 82 avenue Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France.
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