Fecal elastase-1 in healthy children up to 2 years of age: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Fecal elastase-1 (E-1) levels in infants and young children may be expected to differ from those in adults and older children because of the immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract and the specificity of their diet. Despite the availability of data describing E-1 levels in the stools of preterm infants, older children, adults and subjects with malabsorption, there is still a lack of data regarding E-1 in healthy infants and toddlers. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate fecal E-1 concentrations in infants and children from 1 up to 24 months of age.

Material And Methods: E-1 was measured in 160 healthy subjects aged 1-24 months (8 groups of 20: aged 1-3, 4-6 months, etc.) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Results: Fecal E-1 concentrations ranged from 200 to 1695 μg/g of feces. No child had a fecal E-1 level below 200 μg/g of feces. Fecal E-1 concentrations did not significantly differ between age groups. However, fecal E-1 levels in the first 3 months were lower than in the second year of life (1-3 months vs 13-24 months, p=0.0230). A statistically significant correlation between the E-1 concentration and age was found (p=0.0007, r=0.2639; however, it does not affect the cut-off level of the reference values). The trend was rather exponential. Fecal E-1 values reached a plateau around the age of 6-10 months.

Conclusions: Our study has shown that the fecal E-1 test can be reliably applied in infants and toddlers to confirm normal exocrine pancreatic function. However, within the first months of life fecal E-1 concentrations may be lower than later in life.