To evaluate total serum immunoglobulin E level and factors that effect on this level in Iraqi asthmatic children

Abstract

Background: Immunoglobulin E (IgE) has an important role in allergic disease, especially in asthma because it is highly responsive to the allergens; hence, the measure of IgE levels helps in the diagnosis of asthma and monitoring the patient state. Methods: The 85 asthmatic children, including 59 males and 26 females with asthma who had ages between 1 and 16 years collected at Karbala Teaching Hospital for Children with healthy controls which have same age and gender, were measured total IgE levels for them by using EUROIMMUN IgE ELISA kit. The clinical characteristics of patients were recorded by questionnaire and measurement of absolute eosinophil count by peripheral blood smear. Results: There was highly significantly different in IgE levels between patients and controls (P < 0.001). High IgE level observed in 42 (49.4%) of asthmatic patients was relating to age, eosinophil count, exposure to cigarette smoke, the severity of asthma, and use of treatment. Conclusions: Total serum IgE has an important role in the diagnosis of asthma and there are many factors affect its levels in asthmatic patients.

Keywords

• absolute eosinophil count
• asthma severity
• bronchial asthma
• total serum immunoglobulin e