PEDIATRICS Vol. 32 No. 1 July 1963, pp. 85-88
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Shwachman, H.
Right arrow Articles by Phillips, W. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Shwachman, H.
Right arrow Articles by Phillips, W. R.

ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF SWEAT

A Simple Diagnostic Test in Children

H. Shwachman M.D.1, R. Dunham B.S.1, and W. R. Phillips M.D.1

1 The Division of Clinical Laboratories and Department of Medicine, The Children's Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

A practical and simple method for measuring conductivity of sweat has been described. A close correlation was found between the results from 367 patients tested by the routine Pilocarpine iontophoresis method with chemical determinations of the chloride, sodium, and potassium in sweat eluted from pads and by the described conductivity method. The high conductivity values noted in 40 patients with cystic fibrosis serve to distinguish these patients from all others. Only one patient given a diagnosis of cystic fibrosis gave a conductitvity scale reading of less than 100. Although this is a semi-quantitative method, it could serve a useful purpose in the small laboratory where technicians experienced in the performance of the quantitative sweat tests are not available. Standardization of equipment is essential, as is constant checking by using standard test solutions. When borderline values are encountered by the conductivity method with values between 80 and 100 scale units, quantitative electrolyte determinations may also yield borderline concentrations and are the determinations we recommend. Age is a factor in interpretation of the conductivity of sweat, as the values increase with age in parallel with the sweat electrolyte concentration. In small infants, especially those malnourished or dehydrated, one may encounter some difficulty in obtaining an adequate sweat specimen.

Submitted on January 21, 1963
Accepted on March 11, 1963




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 CLIN PEDIATRHome page
L. E. Gibson
The Decline of the Sweat Test: Comments on Pitfalls and Reliability
Clinical Pediatrics, August 1, 1973; 12(8): 450 - 453.
[Abstract] [PDF]