| Pneumonia and diabetes are two of the top ten most prevalent and costliest diseases in the United States. This study focuses on the exhaled breath of subjects who suffered from these two diseases to observe what characteristic Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are enhanced in these subjects. Two separate studies were completed at the University of California, Irvine -- Medical Center. The first study served as a pilot study and consisted of 20 subjects diagnosed with pneumonia in the Emergency Department (E.D). Stemming from the pilot study was a second study in which the exhaled breath gases were analyzed of subjects at the E.D. who suffered from a variety of respiratory illnesses or diabetes. In this study, breath samples were collected from 55 respiratory illness subjects and 54 diabetic subjects. The exhaled gas profiles of these subjects were compared to the typical gases found in healthy controls. The healthy control data were comprised of 218 healthy subjects sampled during the same time period in which the diseased subjects were sampled. By comparing the exhaled gases from the patients sampled with the healthy control data, we were able to determine several gases that were enhanced in people suffering from diabetes and also a variety of respiratory illnesses. The goal of this study was to be able to differentiate healthy subjects from the E.D. patients only from the breath data. In order to test this, Discriminant Analysis was applied to the data as was able to predict a healthy or ill outcome correctly for 94% of the subjects sampled with respiratory illnesses and 94-99% correctly for the diabetic subjects. The ten gases used to classify the respiratory patients were CS2, CH3CN, methane, ethane, propane, propene, i-pentane, and unknowns 3B, 3E, and 3H. The six gases used to classify the diabetic patients were CH3CN, CCl4, butanone, 2-pentanone, acetone, and methyl nitrate. Simply by using six to nine gases as fingerprint biomarkers for these two disease types, we were able to correctly predict a subject's condition of health for over 94% of the subjects. |
