文摘
孤立的儿童慢性咳嗽是一个常见的抱怨。尽管症状包括咳嗽clildhood哮喘的定义,有辩论是否majoritv这些儿童哮喘。作者研究了孤立的儿童慢性咳嗽寻找典型哮喘气道炎症的证据,与气道嗜酸性粒细胞增多评估从支气管肺泡灌洗(BAL)。23日调查进行了儿童(平均年龄:6.7岁;范围:1.7 - -12.75岁),参加贝尔法斯特皇家儿童医院的选择性外科手术,他也有慢性咳嗽原因不明。书面知情同意从母公司获得(s)和nonbronchoscopic落下帷幕。矿山总样本分析,微分白细胞计数和炎症介质,嗜酸性粒细胞阳离子蛋白(ECP)和组胺。结果进行了比较与一群正常nonatopic还有一群孩子过敏性哮喘的孩子,被招募为其他研究气道炎症。有一个小但是BAL嗜酸性粒细胞百分比显著增加儿童慢性咳嗽与nonasthmatic控制(0.28%比0.10%,p = 0.03)。然而,孩子咳嗽比过敏性哮喘控制嗜酸性粒细胞比例较低(0.28%比0.66%,p = 0.01)。 Three out of 23 children with chronic cough had BAL eosinophils greater than the normal upper 95% reference interval in BAL. 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.