The purpose of our study was to determine if the
ethane content of expired air could be a useful index of
vitamin E status in children. Eight children with
vitamin E deficiency secondary to chronic severe
liver disease were studied: six of these children were treated with parenteral
vitamin E (2-5 mg/kg/dose every 4-7 d). Measures of
vitamin E status pre- and posttherapy were: serum
vitamin E, 2 +/- 1 versus 7 +/- 1 micrograms/mL (p less than 0.001); serum
vitamin E:total
lipids, 0.3 +/- 0.1 versus 1.0 +/- 0.1 mg/g (p less than 0.001); and erythrocyte
peroxide hemolysis test, 80 +/- 10 versus 6 +/- 12% (p less than 0.001). Fasting breath
ethane in the patients pre- and posttherapy was 78 +/- 10 versus 31 +/- 11 pmol/kg/min (p less than 0.001). Breath
ethane correlated negatively with serum
vitamin E (p less than 0.042) and serum E:total
lipids (p less than 0.004) and positively with the erythrocyte
peroxide hemolysis test (p less than 0.003). Values for treated patients did not differ from those for fasted sibling controls (34 +/- 12 pmol/kg/min), postprandial sibling controls (31 +/- 12 pmol/kg/min), and healthy children sampled randomly, in the nonfasted state (21 +/- 14 pmol/kg/min). Breath
ethane production in one patient (up to 168 pmol/kg/min) did not normalize
after treatment of
vitamin E deficiency until her
selenium deficiency was corrected as well. We conclude that this noninvasive test can be useful as a screen for
vitamin E deficiency in children and for ascertaining response to
therapy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)