Diabetic Gastroparesis – Obese Versus Non Obese Patients

Abstract

Symptoms suggestive of gastroparesis are common in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), associated with autonomic neuropathy. Gastric emptying abnormalities have also been reported in obese patients. An association between obesity and gastroparesis symptoms in diabetic patients with neuropathy has been recently investigated. In this study, 50 patients with DM were selected. They were investigated for gastroparesis using gastric emptying scintigraphy (GES). Dyspeptic symptoms were assessed using the Gastroparesis Cardinal Symptom Index (GCSI). Obese subjects reported significantly more early satiety (6.01 ±1.25 vs 3.71 ±1.81, P<0.05), fullness (2.58 ±1.87 vs 1.08 ±1.47, P<0.05), nausea (3.42 ±1.99 vs 2.00 ±1.69, P<0.05) and not being able to finish a normal sized meal (4.55 ± 1.67 vs 2.74 ±1.58, P<0.05) than non-obese subjects. Obesity emerged as an independent predictor of cardinal symptoms suggestive of gastroparesis in patients with type 2 DM. This finding suggests that there are more mechanisms in addition to neuropathy to play a role in symptom presence in this patient population. Also, symptoms in entire group did not correlate well with GES and severity of gastroparesis.