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. 2019 Jan 29;45(1):19.
doi: 10.1186/s13052-019-0609-y.

Analysis of the predicting factors of recurrent wheezing in infants

Jia Zhai  1 , Yingxue Zou  2 , Jie Liu  1 , Xingnan Jin  1 , Cuian Ma  1 , Jiao Li  1 , Run Guo  1 , Bing Huang  1
Affiliations

Analysis of the predicting factors of recurrent wheezing in infants

Jia Zhai et al. Ital J Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Clinically, asthma in children under 5 years old is under estimated because lack of diagnostic criteria. The current study was, therefore, designed to identify the predicting factors for recurrent wheezing in infants.

Methods: One hundred forty-five infants under 3-year old hospitalized with respiratory diseases were enrolled into this study. Patients were followed up for one-year period after being discharged from the hospital and were, then, divided into recurrent wheezing group and non-recurrent wheezing group based on whether there was recurrent wheezing or not. Wheezing or recurrent wheezing was specifically monitored in addition to blood tests for allergic and respiratory diseases.

Results: The prevalence of eczema and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection were significantly higher in recurrent wheezing group than in control group (74.2% vs 45.8%; 32.3% vs. 13.3%, respectively, both P < 0.05); the percentage of blood eosinophil and serum eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN) concentration at admission were also higher in recurrent wheezing group than in control group (3.10 ± 2.54% vs. 1.31 ± 1.15%; 68.67 ± 55.05 ng/mL vs. 27. 36 ± 19.51 ng/mL; respectively, both P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis on eosinophil count and serum EDN concentration in predicting recurrent wheezing revealed that the eosinophil count showed the lowest sensitivity (51.6%) and highest specificity (90.4%), with the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.752 ± 0.041; and that, in contrast, the serum EDN showed the highest sensitivity (88.7%) and lowest specificity (56.6%), with AUC of 0.795 ± 0.037.

Conclusion: Combination of eosinophil count and serum EDN measurement may be better to predict the risk of recurrent wheezing in early life of childhood.

Keywords: Eczema; Infants; RSV infection; Recurrent wheezing.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study protocol was approved by the Ethic Committee of the Tianjin Children’s Hospital and conducted in accordance with Helsinki’s Declaration. Consent to participate from the under 16 years old was given by a legal guardian.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interest.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of the sensitivity and specificity for the prediction of recurrent wheezing by logistic model, score, EDN, Eosinophils RSV, and eczema. Vertical axis: sensitivity; horizontal axis: specificity
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
ROC analysis of the sensitivity and specificity for the prediction of recurrent wheezing by eosinophil count. Vertical axis: sensitivity; horizontal axis: specificity
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
ROC analysis of the sensitivity and specificity for the prediction of recurrent wheezing by serum EDN level. Vertical axis: sensitivity; horizontal axis: specificity
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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