pH meter, pH paper measure Gastric pH in Tube-Fed Children with Neurologic Impairments and GERD

Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Published On 2021-06-17 03:30 GMT | Update On 2021-06-17 09:26 GMT

Researchers from the Department of Pharmacy, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada have recently found out that the pH meter and pH paper, both are equally beneficial in monitoring gastric pH in tube-fed children with neurologic impairments and Gastroesophageal Disease (GERD).

The study is published in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition.

James Tjon and associates conducted the present study with the objective to determine the extent of agreement between pH paper and handheld pH meter with a laboratory pH meter for gastric pH measurement in children with neurologic impairments and gastrostomy tubes who have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

In this prospective observational study, gastric contents were aspirated from gastric- or nasogastric-tubes and the pH was measured using 3 techniques: pH paper, handheld pH meter, and laboratory pH meter (the gold standard).

Agreement between techniques was assessed with intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), Bland-Altman analysis and kappa statistic.

The following results were observed and highlighted-

Among 43 patients contributing 67 gastric samples, the ICC was 0.75 (95% CI: 0.69-0.97) between the handheld and laboratory meters, 0.69 (95% CI: 0.63, 0.94) between the pH paper and laboratory meter and 0.69 (95% CI: 0.63 - 0.94) between the handheld meter and paper.
The Bland-Altman analysis between the handheld and lab meters showed a mean difference of -0.03 pH units (limits of agreement: -0.52 to 0.47 pH units) and 0.17 pH units (limits of agreement: -0.99 to 1.33 pH units) between the paper and lab meter.

The kappa coefficients for a pH ≥ 4 were 1.0 (95% CI: 1.0 to 1.0) between the handheld and lab meters and 0.9 (95% CI: 0.77 to 1.0) between the paper and lab meter.

Hence, the authors concluded that "both point-of-care tests, the pH meter and pH paper, correlate well with the gold standard for testing pH with a laboratory pH meter, indicating usefulness in point-of-care testing for monitoring gastric pH in tube-fed children with neurologic impairments and GERD."

Article Source : Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition

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Dr. Nandita Mohan

Dr. Nandita Mohan is a practicing pediatric dentist with more than 5 years of clinical work experience. Along with this, she is equally interested in keeping herself up to date about the latest developments in the field of medicine and dentistry which is the driving force for her to be in association with Medical Dialogues. She also has her name attached with many publications; both national and international. She has pursued her BDS from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore and later went to enter her dream specialty (MDS) in the Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry from Pt. B.D. Sharma University of Health Sciences. Through all the years of experience, her core interest in learning something new has never stopped. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

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pH meter, pH paper measure Gastric pH in Tube-Fed Children with Neurologic Impairments and GERD

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