Iqbal Bano, Aisha Iftikhar, Ahsan Waheed Rathore, Tahira, Rabia.
Utilization of Sweat Chloride Testing To Affirm the Diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis in The Children’s Hospital & The Institute of Child Health, Lahore.
Pak Paed J Jan ;41(1):34-41.

Aim and Objective: To determine the relevance and utilization of Sweat Testing to affirm the diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis. Methodology: It is a cross sectional study done at the Pulmonology OPD of the CH &ICH Lahore, form Nov 2013 to Oct 2014. 126 patients from 2 m to 16 yr of age with the suspected diagnosis of cystic fibrosis were enrolled. Sweat chloride test was performed by using the SM-01 Sweat Analyzer .Sweat production is induced by a pilocarpine and is measured directly from skin by specific electrode. Supportive investigations were also done. The data obtained was analyzed by the help of statistical software SPSS version 20. The variable like age, age of onset of symptoms and age of diagnosis are presented as mean and standard deviation. Consanguinity, clinical feature are presented as frequencies and percentages. Chi- square test was applied. Results: Out of 126 patients 12 were found to be positive for sweat chloride. Seven (58.4%)were male and Five (41%)were female. The commonest age group was between 1 yr to 10 yr. Consanguinity was present in 10 (83.3%) patients. The mean age of onset of symptoms was 12 months and the mean age at diagnosis was 68 months while the median age at the diagnosis was 54 months. The commonest clinical features were repeated respiratory tract infections, failure to thrive, chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain and constipation in order of frequency. Conclusion: Cystic fibrosis must be diagnosed as early as possible. Sweat chloride can be considered as a gold standard for definite diagnosis specifically in developing country like ours where neither CFTR gene mutation analysis nor new born screening is easily accessible.

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