الفهرس 
Bronchial AsthmaOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Wheezing is a main presenting manifestation for a variety of
common diseases in infancy and childhood, such as bronchiolitis,
bronchial asthma and pneumonia. These wheezing conditions
commonly involve an imbalance of inflammatory mediators. In this
study, we aimed at evaluating the blood levels of Lipoxin A4 (LXA4),
an anti-inflammatory lipid mediator, in wheezy infants and children
and its possible use as a diagnostic biomarker.
The study is aimed to determine the level of Lipoxin A4
(LXA4) as anti-inflammatory mediator in wheezy infants and
children.
We included 120 participants, 68 males and 52 females, with
age range from 2 months to 8 years, divided into 4 groups: 20 with
bronchial asthma, 20 with bronchiolitis, 20 with pneumonia and 60
matched healthy controls.
This study included one hundred and twenty infants and
children that were classified into:
group I (controlled): 60 (sixty) normal children of same matching
age, sex and socioeconomic status.
group II: 20 (twenty) bronchial asthmatic children that were selected
from pediatric emergency departments and pulmonology clinics.
group III: 20 (twenty) children with bronchiolitis that were selected
from pediatric emergency departments and pulmonology clinics.
group IV: 20 (twenty) pneumonic children that were selected from
pediatric emergency departments and pulmonology clinics.
All the included patients were subjected to full history taking;
complete physical examination and blood samples were collected and
the following investigations were done:
Laboratory investigations:
Complete blood count (CBC).
Absolute eosinophilic count.
Absolute neutrophilic count.
Absolute lymphocytic count.
Lipoxin A4 level in blood.
Our study showed that the counts of total leukocytes and
neutrophils are higher in the group of children with pneumonia than in
the other groups. The three patients’ groups have higher eosinophilic
counts and percentages than in the controlled group.
We found that the blood levels of LXA4 are significantly lower
in patients’ groups than controlled group. A cut-off value of
≤ 135 pg/ml is estimated to have a 100% sensitivity, 98% specificity,
positive predictive value of 98% and negative predictive value of
100%. Blood LXA4 levels have negative correlation with white blood
cells while it has positive correlation to eosinophils count in patients’ groups.