Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2003 Mar;53(3):396-402.
doi: 10.1203/01.PDR.0000049666.19532.1B.

Verbal dyspraxia and galactosemia

Amy Leigh Webb  1 , Rani H Singh, Mary Jane Kennedy, Louis J Elsas
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Verbal dyspraxia and galactosemia

Amy Leigh Webb et al. Pediatr Res. 2003 Mar.

Abstract

Classical galactosemia is an autosomal recessive disorder resulting from deficient galactose-1-phosphateuridyl transferase (GALT) activity. Verbal dyspraxia is an unusual outcome in galactosemia. Here we validated a simplified breath test of total body galactose oxidation against genotype and evaluated five potential biochemical risk indicators for verbal dyspraxia in galactosemia: cumulative percentage dose (CUMPCD) of (13)CO(2) in breath, mean erythrocyte galactose-1-phosphate, highest erythrocyte galactose-1-phosphate, mean urinary galactitol, and erythrocyte GALT activity. Thirteen controls and 42 patients with galactosemia took a (13)C-galactose bolus, and the (CUMPCD) of (13)CO(2) in expired air was determined. Patients with <5% CUMPCD had mutant alleles that severely impaired human GALT enzyme catalysis. Patients with > or =5% CUMPCD had milder mutant human GALT alleles. Twenty-four patients consented to formal speech evaluation; 15 (63%) had verbal dyspraxia. Dyspraxic patients had significantly lower CUMPCD values (2.84 +/- 5.76% versus 11.51 +/- 7.67%; p < 0.008) and significantly higher mean erythrocyte galactose-1-phosphate (3.38 +/- 0.922 mg/dL versus 1.92 +/- 1.28 mg/dL; p = 0.019) and mean urinary galactitol concentrations (192.4 +/- 75.8 mmol/mol creatinine versus 122.0 +/- 56.4; p = 0.048) than patients with normal speech. CUMPCD values <5%, mean erythrocyte galactose-1-phosphate levels >2.7 mg/dL, and mean urinary galactitol levels >135 mmol/mol creatinine were associated with dyspraxic outcome with odds ratios of 21, 13, and 5, respectively. We conclude that total body oxidation of galactose to CO(2) in expired air reflects genotype and that this breath test is a sensitive predictor of verbal dyspraxia in patients with galactosemia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources