Serum total and free carnitine levels in children with asthma
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Serum total and free carnitine levels in children with asthma Suna Asilsoy, Özlem Bekem, Özkan Karaman, Nevin Uzuner, Salih Kavukçu Izmir, Turkey
Clinical summary 60
Background: Serum carnitine is decreased in recurrent pulmonary infections. We aimed to evaluate serum carnitine levels in asthmatic children. Methods: Study group consisted of children with stable asthma and those with acute asthma attacks, while control group included healthy children. Attack severity was determined by the pulmonary score system. Total and free carnitine levels were studied in one blood sample from the control group and stable asthmatics and in two samples from children with acute asthma exacerbation during and after the attack. Results: All the 40 patients in the study group had moderate asthma including 30 with acute attack (13 mild and 17 moderate) and 10 with stable asthma. Carnitine levels were significantly lower in acute attack asthmatics than in the stable asthmatics and controls, while there was no significant difference between the latter two groups. Carnitine levels were not different between asthmatics with mild and moderate attack, and were similar during and after an acute attack. Conclusions: Serum carnitine levels decrease in children with moderate asthma during exacerbation of asthma and shortly thereafter. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effect of carnitine treatment on serum carnitine level. World J Pediatr 2009;5(1):60-62 Key words: asthma; carnitine; children
Author Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, Dokuz Eylül University Medical Faculty, Izmir, Turkey (Asilsoy S, Bekem Ö, Karaman Ö, Uzuner N, Kavukçu S) Corresponding Author: Özlem Bekem, MD, Çamlıçay Mah. 5182 Sok. No:12/A, Urla 35315, Izmir, Turkey (Email: [email protected]) doi:10.1007/s12519-009-0011-8 ©2009, World J Pediatr. All rights reserved.
Introduction
L
-carnitine, a cofactor that plays an essential role in the mitochondrial oxidation of long chain fatty acids, spares muscle glycogen, improves tolerance to physical activity, and reduces muscle fatigue.[1] L-carnitine administration is beneficial to exercise and respiratory strength training in outpatients with stable, moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.[2] In addition, it has been demonstrated that carnitine supplementation can increase serum carnitine levels, improve exercise capacity and correct the obstructive pattern in breath function tests in maintenance hemodialysis patients.[3,4] The bronchodilator effect of carnitine on asthma and asthma attacks is not known. In this study, we compared serum carnitine levels in children with asthma to those of healthy controls. We evaluated whether serum carnitine levels of asthmatic children are affected by acute exacerbations of asthma.
Clinical summary
The study group consisted of children with asthma who attended the Pediatric Allergy Clinic of Dokuz Eylül University Hospital during a 6-month period. The control group included children who were admitted to Pediatric Surgery Clinic or Otolaryngology Clinic for
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