Interethnic variation in the metabolic inactivation of digoxin by the gut flora

Digoxin is metabolized to cardioinactive reduced metabolites (digoxin reduction products) in some patients by anaerobic bacteria present in the gut flora. We compared the tendencies of Americans and Bangladeshis to reduce digoxin by this pathway. Of 97 normal Americans in New York City, 34 (35.1%) were metabolizers in contrast to 14 of 100 Bangladeshis in Dhaka (p less than 0.002). Forty-three (35.8%) of 120 American patients in New York City receiving digoxin reduced the drug compared with 4 (13.8%) of 29 Bangladeshi patients in Dhaka (p less than 0.05). In Americans who emigrated to Dhaka or Bengali immigrants to New York City, the frequency of digoxin reduction product excretion was that of their country of origin. Fourteen Bengali immigrants who were nonmetabolizers when first studied in New York did not metabolize digoxin when restudied 4 yr later. In the Bangladeshis studied in Dhaka, income, education, and most strongly, urban residence during childhood correlated positively with digoxin inactivation. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the metabolic functions of the anaerobic gut flora may be determined by environmental factors operative early in life and tend to remain stable in adulthood. Interethnic variations in drug metabolism may be the consequence of differences in the intestinal microflora.