SERUM INFLAMMATORY MARKERS AND EFFECTS OF AGE AND TOBACCO-SMOKE EXPOSURE IN YOUNG NONASTHMATIC CHILDREN

Serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), but not serum myeloperoxidase (MPO), has been found to reflect disease activity of asthma and eczem a, but no reference values exist for young children. Thus, we aimed to provide values of serum-ECP and serum-MPO in young children without o bstructive airways disease (OAD), and determine possible influencing f actors. Parental interview was performed and serum was collected from a total of 245 children (207 children aged 24-41 months and 76 childre n aged 0-23 months) with no history of lower respiratory disease. Repe ated serum samples were obtained in 38 subjects. Ten percent of the ch ildren had active eczema at examination. All children were controls in the ''Environment and Childhood Asthma'' study in Oslo. Geometric mea ns (GM +/- 1.96 SD) for serum ECP were 11.8 mu g/l (2.5-56.0) and 7.9 mu g/l (2.0-30.4), respectively, in the 0-23 and 24-41 month-old child ren, with the corresponding values for serum MPO 453 mu g/l (153-1349) and 347 mu g/l (142-859), respectively. Age was inversely associated with serum-ECP and serum-MPO, most pronounced in the youngest children . Active eczema and maternal daily smoking adversely affected serum-EC P, but not serum-MPO. Gender and parental atopy did not influence the results. We conclude that serum-ECP in very young children is influenc ed by age and active eczema and is related to maternal smoking in a do se-dependent fashion. These factors should be considered when assessin g inflammatory markers in very young children.