OSTEOPONTIN AS EFFECTIVE PROGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC MARKER OF BRONCHIAL ASTHMA IN CHILDREN

Abstract

Bronchial asthma is one of the most common non-infectious diseases among children. According to the official statistics of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the number of cases among Ukrainian children is about 5.61 per 1000 children. In recent years, more and more attention of specialists has been devoted to the study of inflammatory mediators such as osteopontin. Purpose of the study is to improve the prevention and treatment of bronchial asthma in children based on assessing prognostic levels of osteopontin. Materials and methods: 96 children aged 6 to 18 were examined. The diagnosis was verified according to the unified clinical protocol of primary and secondary medical care "Bronchial asthma in children" (order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine dated October 8, 2013 No. 868). Assessment of osteopontin was carried out during remission by ELISA among 80 patients with bronchial asthma, the control group consisted of 16 healthy children. The study was conducted in adherence to human rights in accordance with prevailing legislation in Ukraine and aligns with international ethical standards. The results were analyzed utilizing non-parametric statistical methods through Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS Statistics. Results and discussion. Boys constituted the majority of the subjects studied, comprising 73%. In the main group, all patients were diagnosed with a mixed form of asthma, categorized by severity as follows: intermittent - 30% (40), mild persistent - 31% (29), moderate persistent - 26% (21), and severe - 13% (10). Upon analyzing osteopontin levels based on age, within the bronchial asthma group, values were nearly identical between early and late school-age children (27.6 ng/ml and 27.7 ng/ml, respectively). In contrast, the control group exhibited different patterns: higher values in early school-age children at 10.6 ng/ml and 8.9 ng/ml in the high school group. Notably, the significantly elevated level of osteopontin in the main group at 27.6 ng/ml compared to the control group at 9.8 ng/ml warrants attention, suggesting that osteopontin could serve as a marker for the inflammatory process. Conclusions: Physiologically, the level of osteopontin is higher in children of early school age. Osteopontin is a marker of inflammation in BA in children, which is probably higher in patients of the main group and its level has no age difference. The level of osteopontin is directly proportional to the severity of the disease and can serve as its prognostic criterion. The higher the level of osteopontin, the more powerful anti-inflammatory therapy the patient may need.