抽象的
童年中的孤立的慢性咳嗽是一个常见的投诉。虽然症状咳嗽被纳入群体哮喘的定义,但这些儿童的主要人类是否具有哮喘的争论。作者研究了孤立的慢性咳嗽的孩子寻找典型的哮喘炎症的证据,随着从支气管肺泡灌洗(BAL)评估的呼吸道嗜酸性粒细胞增加。调查是在23名儿童进行的(中位数:6.7岁;范围:1.7-12.75 YRS),参加贝尔菲斯特皇家贝尔法斯特医院,为患有选修外科的病人,他也有一个慢性未解释的咳嗽。从父母获得书面知情同意书,并进行了非折磨BAL。分析了BAL样品,用于总和差异的白细胞计数,以及炎症介质,嗜酸性粒细胞阳离子蛋白(ECP)和组胺。结果与一群正常的非植物儿童进行比较,也是一群特应哮喘儿童,他曾被招募关于呼吸炎症的其他研究。慢性咳嗽的儿童嗜酸性嗜酸性嗜酸性血粒细胞患儿童的小而统计学显着增加,与非惊厥对照(0.28%对0.10%,P = 0.03)。然而,患有咳嗽的儿童较低的嗜酸性粒细胞比特应哮喘对照(0.28%对0.66%,P = 0.01)。慢性咳嗽中的23名儿童中的三种患有大于BAL的正常高95%参考间隔的BAL嗜酸性粒细胞。 There was a small but statistically significant increase in percentage neutrophils in the children with cough compared with the nonasthmatic controls (5.85% versus 3.21%, p=0.03). Four out of the 23 children had BAL neutrophils greater than the normal upper 95% reference interval in BAL. The authors conclude that only a minority of children with chronic unexplained cough have asthmatic-type airway inflammation. It is speculated that the increased percentage neutrophils in bronchoalveolar lavage from children with cough could relate to underlying persistent airways infection.