Prognostic Value of Interleukin-18 in Children with Covid Respiratory Infection

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus is one of the major pathogens that primarily targets the human respiratory system. A striking and consistent observation has been the difference in severity of COVID-19 at different ages: severity, the need for hospitalization and mortality rise steeply with older age while severe disease and death are relatively rare in children and young adults. Large epidemiological studies suggest that children comprise only 1 to 2% of all SARS-CoV-2 cases. However, more recent studies report that children are less likely to get infected after contact with a SARS-CoV-2 positive individual. Methods: A total of 100 children with covid respiratory infection were included in the study who were admitted to hospital from the period between end of December 2021 to March 2022. A Five ml of blood samples using disposable syringes under aseptic technique were collected and withdrawn from each patient, three ml were transferred to sterile Gel tube, and allow to clot at room temperature and centrifuge at 2500 rpm for 10 minutes and the separated serum was saved in Eppendorf tubes and immediately frozen at -20 C till further use to avoid repeated thawing and freezing for 1L-18 ELISA Kit test, and two ml of whole blood for direct complete blood count test. Results: The present study included 100 children with Covid-19 respiratory infection. The mean age was 1.45 ± 2.6 years. Median levels of IL-18 were 24.30 (21.60) ng/L and 9.90 (8.15) ng/L, in children with positive real time-PCR and negative real time-PCR respectively; the level was higher in children with positive real time-PCR in comparison with children with negative real time-PCR and the difference was highly significant (P < 0.001). Conclusion: There was significant correlation between COVID-19 and IL-18 and the level of interleukin was elevated during infection.