Hangül Melih, Öztürk Didem, Keti Didem Barlak, Köse Mehmet
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Pulmonology Erciyes University School of Medicine, Kayseri, Turkey.
Department of Biochemistry, Erciyes University School of Medicine, Kayseri, Turkey.
Turk Thorac J. 2020 Jan;21(1):3-7. doi: 10.5152/TurkThoracJ.2019.180105. Epub 2020 Jan 1.
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a potentially lethal lower respiratory tract infection for children. For this reason, early recognition and appropriate treatment is essential. In addition, we need to determine which patient will be hospitalized or not hospitalized. Here, we aimed to evaluate the plasma endocan level to determine whether it is effective in making the decision on hospitalization and the assessment of the response to treatment in patients with CAP.
This prospective case-control study was conducted between November 2015 and May 2016 at Erciyes University School of Medicine. Fifty-three patients diagnosed as CAP with clinical and radiological findings were enrolled in the study. The patients were divided into various subgroups, such as inpatient, outpatient, complicated, non-complicated, dead patients, etc., and the levels of endocan were compared between the control group and those various groups.
A total of 53 children with a diagnosis of CAP and 55 healthy children were enrolled in the study. Patients were divided into two groups: hospitalized patients and outpatients. There was no statistically significant difference between these groups' serum endocan levels on the 1 day and serum endocan levels on the 4 day (p=0.783, p=0.419).
Serum endocan level had no significant value in predicting patients' hospitalization. On the other hand, high serum endocrine levels may be important in predicting the severity and prognosis of the disease.
