title: [Role of serum neutrophil elastase determination in the diagnosis of acute exacerbation of asthma in preschool children].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the role of serum neutrophil elastase (NE) level in acute exacerbation of asthma in preschool children.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 85 preschool children who were diagnosed with asthma between January 2008 and January 2010 were classified into acute exacerbation group (n=44) and non-acute exacerbation group (n=41). Thirty-five children who received physical examination served as the control group. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine the serum levels of NE and interleukin-8 (IL-8). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used for NE evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both the acute and non-acute exacerbation groups had higher serum levels of NE and IL-8 than the control group, and the acute exacerbation group had significantly higher serum levels of NE and IL-8 than the non-acute exacerbation group (P<0.05). The serum level of NE was positively correlated with that of IL-8 (r=0.48, P<0.05). With serum NE level >27.73 μg/L as the cut-off value for diagnosing acute exacerbation of asthma, the sensitivity was 65.9%, the specificity was 95.1%, and the area under the ROC curve was 0.87 (P<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The determination of serum NE level in preschool children with asthma helps to diagnose the acute exacerbation of asthma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiration, Wuxi Children's Hospital, Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214023, China. smhuang1966@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhi-Wei
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Song-Ming
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000097:blood; D019272:Leukocyte Elastase / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D016209:Interleukin-8; D019272:Leukocyte Elastase