Song Joo Young, Lee Yoo Mi, Choi You Jin, Jeong Su Jin
Department of Pediatrics, Bundang CHA Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, South Korea.
J Clin Lab Anal. 2017 Nov;31(6). doi: 10.1002/jcla.22113. Epub 2017 Jan 16.
Fecal calprotectin (FC) is non-invasive inflammatory marker indicating various bowel diseases. However, the median-specific cut-off values and the standard deviations (SD) of the FC levels in each age group <4 years were not elucidated.
Healthy volunteers were enrolled from four kindergartens. A questionnaire was used to confirm that the children met the inclusion criteria, and several demographics and history of bowel symptoms were collected. The FC level was measured.
A total of 234 healthy children aged between 6 months and 4 years were recruited. The median FC concentration of all participants was 245 μg/g (range 12-1033 μg/g, mean 68.5 μg/g, SD 123.12 μg/g). The children were divided into six age groups. The upper limit of 95% CI of median FC values was 135 μg/g in 7-12 months group, 65 μg/g in 13-18 months group, 55 μg/g in 19-24 months group, 40 μg/g in 25-30 months group, 21 μg/g in 31-36 months group, and 12 μg/g in 37-48 months group. A negative correlation trend was found between the age and the FC concentration.
This is the first study to present the FC median levels in the specific age groups <4 years in Korea. We found a FC level reduction with age, indicating a bowel maturation process and decreased intestinal permeability of the intestinal mucosa. In our study, FC levels reached the values of 50 μg/g around the age of 2 years.
粪便钙卫蛋白（FC）是一种指示多种肠道疾病的非侵入性炎症标志物。然而，4岁以下各年龄组FC水平的中位数特异性临界值和标准差（SD）尚未阐明。
从四所幼儿园招募健康志愿者。使用问卷确认儿童符合纳入标准，并收集了一些人口统计学和肠道症状史。测量FC水平。
共招募了234名年龄在6个月至4岁之间的健康儿童。所有参与者的FC浓度中位数为245μg/g（范围12 - 1033μg/g，平均值68.5μg/g，SD 123.12μg/g）。将儿童分为六个年龄组。7 - 12个月组FC值中位数的95%CI上限为135μg/g，13 - 18个月组为65μg/g，19 - 24个月组为55μg/g，25 - 30个月组为40μg/g，31 - 36个月组为21μg/g，37 - 48个月组为12μg/g。发现年龄与FC浓度之间存在负相关趋势。
这是韩国首次针对4岁以下特定年龄组呈现FC中位数水平的研究。我们发现FC水平随年龄降低，表明肠道成熟过程以及肠黏膜的肠道通透性降低。在我们的研究中，FC水平在2岁左右达到50μg/g。
