engleski

Association between C-reactive protein and arterial ischemic stroke in children.

Introduction: Increased concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) are associated with increased risk for atherothrombotic disease in adults, but limited data are available in children. This prompted us to investigate the possible association between hs-CRP concentrations and arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) in children. Patients and Methods: hs-CRP was measured in 41 children (25 boys, 16 girls) aged < 18 years, with an established diagnosis of AIS. The diagnosis was made according to clinical history, physical and neurological examination, documented with at least one brain imaging technique. Children with AIS were further classified into two groups, childhood AIS (n = 21) and perinatal/neonatal AIS (n = 20). The control group consisted of 56 healthy children (36 boys, 20 girls) aged 2– 17 years. CRP was measured by using particle enhanced immunonephelometry (CardioPhase hsCRP, Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics, Deerfield, USA). Results: By using a cut-off value of 0.84 mg/L based on 90th percentile, significantly higher frequency of elevated hs-CRP values (P = 0.014) was found in children with AIS (29.3%) than in healthy children (8.9%). A twofold higher median hs-CRP value was identified in childhood AIS (0.47 mg/L) compared to healthy children (0.22 mg/L), but a statistical significance was not reached (P = 0.154). Among children with AIS, higher median hs-CRP value, although not statistically significant (P = 0.784), was found in childhood AIS (0.47 mg/L) compared to perinatal/neonatal AIS (0.24 mg/L). In addition, an almost threefold higher median hs-CRP value was identified in boys than in girls with AIS (0.47 and 0.16 mg/L, respectively), while in healthy children this difference was less pronounced (boys: 0.26 mg/L, girls: 0.19 mg/L). Conclusions: According to obtained results there is a trend towards increased hs-CRP values in childhood AIS. This was more pronounced in boys and could explain their predominance in childhood AIS.

stroke; CRP; children

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