Folic acid Deficiency and Bronchial Asthma Exacerbations in Children | ||
| The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine | ||
| Article 6, Volume 76, Issue 1, July 2019, Pages 3198-3203 PDF (378.74 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/ejhm.2019.35088 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Enas Tawfiq Ali1; Asmaa Abd El Wakeel Ibrahim1; Mohammed El-Sayed Abo Ghabsha2; Mohammed Shabana Abd Elwhab* 1 | ||
| 1Departments of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt | ||
| 2Departments of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Background: Little is known about folate and asthma exacerbations. We examined whether folate deficiency is associated with asthma exacerbations in Children. Aim of the work: was to assess association of folate deficiency with increased asthma exacerbations in children. Subjects and methods: The study carried out on fifty children known to have a history of bronchial asthma aged from 6–15 years. All subjects were subjected to thorough medical history, full clinical examination, laboratory investigations including pulmonary function tests (spirometry) and serum folic acid levels. Results: this study showed Percentage of asthma in males more than in females. Viral infection, exercise, exposure to cold and fumes are the commonest precipitating factors. Analysis of Forced Expiratory Volume in the first second (FEV1) showed that 30% of cases had a level above 80% (mild impairment), 54% had a level between 60 and 80% (moderate) and 16% had a level below 60% (severe). Serum level of folic acid was lowest in the severe group (1.20.1), followed by the moderate (2.40.3) then the mild group (3.40.4), with a significant difference when all the groups were compared with each other (p <0.001).There were significant, positive strong correlations between folic acid level and each of FEV1% and FEV1/FVC%. Serum folic acid level contributed significantly to the degree of asthma severity, when adjusted for the other variables and indicated that increase in asthma severity with associated with each decrease in folic acid level. Conclusions: It could be concluded that folate deficiency is associated with increased degree of severe asthma exacerbations in children. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Asthma; children; folate | ||
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