Mo1866 Beneficial Changes in Intestinal Microbiota During Indomethacin Treatment in Mice

G A A b st ra ct s tests were classified into six categories: 1-Normal: Methane levels 20 ppm within 90 minutes. 5Flatliners: Methane<3 ppm and hydrogen≤3 ppm with variation ≤1 ppm within 120 minutes. 6-Equivocal: Hydrogen levels above 20 ppm at baseline prior to ingestion of lactulose and methane <3 ppm. Results Of the 14.847 breath test subjects, most were females (71%). Average age at the time of breath test was 46.9±18.3 years (range 2-101). The proportions of each category of breath test result are represented in Table 1. Male subjects were significantly more likely to produce excessive amounts of methane (18.21% vs. 16.07%, p<0.01); however, no other significant differences existed between the two genders. Regardless of gender and hydrogen production, those producing abnormally high amounts of methane were significantly older than nonmethane gas producers with a mean age of 52.3 years and an age difference of 5.8 years (p<0.01). The equivocal group was the youngest group with a mean age of 34.8 years (p<0.01). The prevalence of methane production appeared to increase with age, as shown in graph 1. Conclusion In the largest database of lactulose breath tests analyzed to date, the prevalence of methane gas on breath test increases by more than five-fold with age, with the oldest age group having the highest prevalence of methane producers. This finding may explain why age is a known risk factor for constipation. Finally, with a difference of approximately 2%, males were slightly but significantly more likely than females to be methane producers, the clinical significance of which has yet to be determined. Table 1: hydrogen and methane production