Connection between overweight, obesity and spirometric, hematological parameters, total immunoglobulin E, interleukin-6 levels in blood serum in children and adolescents with bronchial asthma
Authors:   Privolzhskiy Research Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, Khramova R.N. , Eliseyeva T.I. ,   Privolzhskiy Research Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, Ovsyannikov D.Yu. ,   Patrice Émery Lumumba People’s Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russia, Karpenko M.A. ,   Patrice Émery Lumumba People’s Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russia, Tush E.V. ,   Privolzhskiy Research Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, Krasilnikova S.V. ,   Privolzhskiy Research Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, Kubysheva N.I. ,   Kazan and the Volga Region Federal University, Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, Bulgakova V.A. ,   Research Institute of Pediatrics and Children's Healthcare with the Scientific and Clinical Center No. 2 (Central Clinical Hospital of the Russian Academy of Sciences) of the Academician B.V. Petrovskiy Russian Scientific Surgery Center of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia,   Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia, Khaletskaya O.V. ,   Privolzhskiy Research Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, Kravchenko G.A. ,   N.I. Lobachevskiy National Research State University of Nizhny Novgorod (UNN), Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, Balabolkin I.I. ,   Research Institute of Pediatrics and Children's Healthcare with the Scientific and Clinical Center No. 2 (Central Clinical Hospital of the Russian Academy of Sciences) of the Academician B.V. Petrovskiy Russian Scientific Surgery Center of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia
Published: October 2024

There is undoubtedly insufficient number of studies dedicated to the interleukin-6 (IL-6) in blood serum of children and adolescents with bronchial asthma (BA) and those are contradictory. Connection between the IL-6 serum level and systemic markers of type 2 inflammation in BA in children and adolescents depending on the nutritional status remains a subject to discussion as well. The purpose of this research was to study the effect of excess body weight (BW) and obesity on spirometric, hematological parameters, total immunoglobulin E (IgE), IL-6 levels in blood serum of children and adolescents with BA. Materials and methods used: a single-center observational cross-sectional pilot study of 76 adolescents aged 6 to 17 y/o (75% (57) boys) with BA was conducted. All were measured for anthropometric and spirometric parameters, body composition, hematological parameters, total IgE and IL-6 levels in blood serum. Dysanapsis was diagnosed when three conditions were simultaneously met: 1. high or high-to-normal zFVC (above 0.674), 2. normal zFEV1 (above -1.645), and 3. low FEV1/FVC index (below 80%). Results: the number of monocytes (109/l) in peripheral blood and the serum IL-6 level (pg/ml) were statistically significantly higher in the group of patients with overweight and obesity compared to patients with underweight/normal BW (0.55 [0.49; 0.77] v 0.51 [0.42; 0.58], p=0.043 and 1.99 [1.20; 5.78] v 1.28 [0.31; 2.43], p=0.002, respectively). In patients with excess BW and obesity, an inverse statistically significant relationship was found between the serum IL-6 level, zFEV1/FVC and the dysanapsis ratio (R=-0.53, p=0.009, R=-0.61, p=0.002, respectively). Conclusion: formation of an obstructive pattern in children and adolescents with BA with excess BW and obesity may be associated with non-T2-dependent inflammatory mechanisms.