Department of Pediatrics, SBU Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
Department of Pediatric Emergency, SBU Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
Pediatr Allergy Immunol Pulmonol. 2022 Dec;35(4):145-152. doi: 10.1089/ped.2022.0110. Epub 2022 Nov 29.
Endocan has been used as a biomarker in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary diseases in adults. However, there are only a limited number of studies on its use in children. In this context, the objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between serum endocan levels in children with bacterial and viral pneumonia. The population of this prospective case-control study consisted of hospitalized children aged 1 month to 15 years diagnosed with pneumonia between August 2020 and July 2021, whereas the control group consisted of randomly selected healthy children. The demographic and clinical characteristics of all participants were recorded. Participants' endocan levels, white blood cell (WBC) and neutrophil counts, and C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) levels were measured within the scope of the laboratory tests. The study sample consisted of 41 children, of whom 21 had bacterial pneumonia and 20 had viral pneumonia, whereas the control group consisted of 47 healthy children. Serum endocan levels, WBC and neutrophil counts, and PCT and CRP levels were significantly higher in children with bacterial pneumonia than in children with viral pneumonia and healthy children ( < 0.05). Additionally, serum endocan levels were significantly higher in children with viral pneumonia than in healthy children ( < 0.001). The endocan levels in children with bacterial pneumonia were significantly associated with the need for intensive care ( = 0.004) and correlated with the length of hospital stay (LoS) ( = 0.592, = 0.005). The findings of this study indicated that serum endocan levels can be used in the differential diagnosis of bacterial and viral pneumonias. Additionally, it was found that the need for intensive care and LoS were significantly correlated with endocan levels in children with bacterial pneumonia.
内消蛋白已被用作成人肺部疾病鉴别诊断的生物标志物。然而，关于其在儿童中的应用，仅有数量有限的研究。在这种情况下，本研究的目的是评估儿童细菌性和病毒性肺炎患者血清内消蛋白水平之间的关系。
这项前瞻性病例对照研究的研究人群包括 2020 年 8 月至 2021 年 7 月期间被诊断为肺炎的住院 1 个月至 15 岁的儿童，对照组由随机选择的健康儿童组成。记录了所有参与者的人口统计学和临床特征。在实验室检测范围内测量了参与者的内消蛋白水平、白细胞（WBC）和中性粒细胞计数以及 C 反应蛋白（CRP）和降钙素原（PCT）水平。
研究样本包括 41 名儿童，其中 21 名患有细菌性肺炎，20 名患有病毒性肺炎，对照组由 47 名健康儿童组成。细菌性肺炎患儿的血清内消蛋白水平、WBC 和中性粒细胞计数以及 PCT 和 CRP 水平均明显高于病毒性肺炎患儿和健康儿童（<0.05）。此外，病毒性肺炎患儿的血清内消蛋白水平明显高于健康儿童（<0.001）。细菌性肺炎患儿的内消蛋白水平与需要重症监护显著相关（=0.004），与住院时间（LoS）相关（=0.592，=0.005）。
本研究的结果表明，血清内消蛋白水平可用于鉴别诊断细菌性和病毒性肺炎。此外，还发现细菌性肺炎患儿需要重症监护和 LoS 与内消蛋白水平显著相关。
