Study on Clinical Features, Intestinal Flora and Standardized Treatment in Male Elderly With Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

Our previous study had found that the prevalence rate of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth(SIBO) in male elderly was high up to 63.1%. In the recent years, SIBO has been found be associated not only with abdominal symptoms such as abdominal distention, pain and so on, but also with various diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, joint pain, chronic prostatitis, fatty liver, liver cirrhosis etc. SIBO has significant impact on the health of elderly. Methane and hydrogen lactulose breath test(LBT) is effective and noninvasive for the diagnosis of SIBO. High throughput sequencing is a leading technique for the study of intestinal microflora.

Although more and more studies have focused their concern on the intestinal flora now, few SIBO-related studies are available in elderly patients. But we have found SIBO was very popular in the elderly. The conflict between high prevalence rate of SIBO in elderly and very few relevant studies is barrier to study of pathophysiology, early diagnosis and treatment of SIBO in elderly adults.

So in our study, we will apply LBT and high throughput sequencing technique to study the intestinal flora structure, risk factors and clinical features of male elderly patients with SIBO. And further, we will try to develop standard treatment for elderly patients with SIBO.