Medicina neonatal y pediátrica

Abstracto

Serum Leptin Level among School Children with Atopic Dermatitis

Saad Ahmed Mohamed, Tarek Alsayad, Ahmad El-Askary and Hany Abo Alwafa

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin condition. The pathogenesis of AD is still not fully understood. The association between obesity and AD suggests a potential role for adipocytes hormones, mainly leptin, which had variable immunological functions. Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess serum leptin concentrations in children with AD and to evaluate the relationship between serum leptin levels and various demographic and clinical parameters. Material and Methods: A case control study included 90 school age children (54 cases and 36 controls) conducted at Al-Azhar University Hospital (New Damietta), from January 2016 to April 2017. The diagnosis of AD was based on ISAAC questionnaire. Enrolled children completed scoring of severity of AD (SCORAD), blood tests for total IgE, eosinophil counts. Serum leptin was measured by ELIZA. Results: There was no significant difference between cases and controls as regard age, sex and BMI. Serum leptin was significantly (P=0.015) higher among patients than healthy control. This difference was apparent between both boys (P=0.043) and girls (P=0.026). In addition, serum leptin was significantly higher among atopic girls (P=0.017) than boys. Regarding type of AD, there was no significant difference between patients with intrinsic AD and patients with extrinsic AD considering variable clinical parameters. Serum leptin was higher among intrinsic AD patients but it was not significant (P=0.062). Correlation analysis revealed significant negative correlation between leptin and total IgE (P=0.004). Also, non-significant negative correlation between serum leptin level and SCORAD value (P=0.062). Conclusion: There was significant association between serum leptin levels and atopic dermatitis, which was apparent among both atopic boys and girls. However, serum leptin was significantly higher among atopic girls than boys. Thus, leptin might play a role in the pathogenesis of AD. The tendency of leptin to increase among girls and with intrinsic AD suggests complex pathological mechanisms.