Incidence and clinical importance of lupus anticoagulant in children with recurrent upper respiratory tract infection.
BACKGROUND
This study aims to understand the incidence and presence of lupus anticoagulant (LA) in children with recurrent upper respiratory tract infection (URTI).


METHODS
One hundred and sixty-five patients who were admitted to Departments of Pediatrics and Otolaryngology at Ege University Faculty of Medicine during the last 2 years and 120 age-matched healthy children as a control group were enrolled in the study.


RESULTS
The presence of LA in serum was positive in 8 (4.8%) cases in the patient group while only 2 (1.6%) cases in the healthy control group (P = .03). Mean age of patients with LA positive was significantly lower than those of negative cases (P = .02). Of the patients, 92 (55.8%) had adenoid hypertrophy. The annual frequency of URTI did not differ significantly between the LA patients and the LA-negative patients (7.5/year and 6.9/year, respectively). None of the patients with LA positive had adenoid hypertrophy (P = .009). Activated partial thromboplastin time was prolonged in 6 (3.6%) of 165 patients. Of these 6 patients, 2 were also LA positive. The presence of LA disappeared in all the 8 patients 2 months after the diagnosis. Lupus anticoagulant was found negative in all patients at the end of the second month.


CONCLUSIONS
We found that the ratio of the presence of LA is higher in children with recurrent URTI than healthy children. However, the presence of LA does not lead to bleeding and/or thrombosis, and it disappears in a short period of time.
Peker
Erdal
E
Medical Faculty, Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey. pekererdal@hotmail.com
Kavakli
Kaan
K
Balkan
Can
C
Karapinar
Deniz
D
Aydemir
Baran
B
D000234:Adenoids / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D016682:Lupus Coagulation Inhibitor / Q000097:blood*; D010314:Partial Thromboplastin Time; D012008:Recurrence; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D016682:Lupus Coagulation Inhibitor