Original ArticleAltered Fecal Microflora and Increased Fecal Calprotectin in Infants with Colic
Section snippets
Methods
During June 2007 to May 2008, 36 patients were recruited. The infants were recruited from University of Texas–Houston Pediatric Clinics and local Houston-area clinics, including the Kelsey-Seybold clinic. Control infants and colicky infants were recruited from the same clinics. Inclusion criteria included having completed a Barr diary2 and having no known disease. Infants who were healthy but characterized by crying and fussing >3 hours per day for at least 3 days weekly by their general
Barr Diary
The totaled mean crying plus fussing time was 4-fold greater for the colic group than the control group 314 ± 36 (SEM) minutes, compared with control infants, who cried for 103 ± 17 minutes on day 1. The mean number of minutes crying on day 2 was similar: 297 ± 33 minutes vs 115 ± 22 minutes (P = .001). Crying and fussing times, when analyzed separately for the 2 groups of infants, also showed a significant difference between the groups. Crying times (mean ± SEM) were 175 ± 28 minutes for the
Discussion
Fecal calprotectin, which constitutes about 60% of the cytosolic protein in neutrophils,15 has been used as a marker to discriminate between intestinal inflammation and functional bowel disease.16 In pediatric patients, fecal calprotectin helped to distinguish inflammatory bowel disease from nonorganic disease, with a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 79% for identifying organic disease.17 Fecal calprotectin was found to be 6 times higher in infants with or without colic compared with
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Supported by the Gerber Foundation. J.M.R. received funding from BioGaia, Inc, for a separate project to develop an IND to look at safety and tolerability of Lactobacillus reuteri in adults. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.