Acid Secretion Studies

Abstract

This paper discusses the methodology appropriate for the analysis of intragastric acid secretion studies measuring hydrogen ion activity and pH during a 24-hour interval, and proposes that parametric methods allow more comprehensive models to befitted and easier interpretation of results to be made. In an illustrative example of a crossover trial, the area under hydrogen ion activity time curve was analyzed using standard analysis of variance models. The residuals and the fitted values were then investigated and, as a result, a logarithmic transformation of the variable was tried. The success of this transformation was then investigated.

The length of time for which pH was above three was also analyzed in a similar way. These methods are likely to be relevant to other studies of this type.