3 | RESULTS
In total, 179 patients aged 1–24 months were included in this study,
with a median age of 8 months (range, 1–24 months): 116 (64.80%) of
these patients were male and 63 (35.20%) were female. The control group
included 80 healthy children, also with a median age of 8 months (range,
2–24 months): 49 (61.2%) of them were male and 31 (38.8%) were
female. The patient and control group did not differ significantly in
age or sex (p = 0.619 and p = 0.583, respectively).
Patients had significantly higher WBC, PLT, MPV, IPF, and PDW values
compared with the control group (p = 0.000). The frequency of
eosinophilia did not differ significantly between the patient and
control groups (p = 0.756; Table I).
The patient group included 48 (26.80%), 104 (58.10%), and 27 (15.10%)
children classified as having mild, moderate, and severe bronchiolitis,
respectively. The median CSS was 6 (range, 2–12). No significant
correlation was found between acute bronchiolitis CSS and age, sex, body
temperature, oxygen saturation (%),
PLT, WBC,
proportion of lymphocytes, or
proportion of eosinophils (p > 0.05). The MPV value
of the mild clinical severity group was significantly lower than those
of the moderate (p = 0.002) and severe (p = 0.000) group,
but MPV values did not differ significantly between the moderate and
severe groups (p = 0.142). IPF values differed significantly
among the mild, moderate, and severe groups (p <
0.001). A positive correlation was observed between the CSS and the IPF
(p <
0.001). The mild
clinical severity group had a significantly lower PDW compared with the
moderate and severe groups (p = 0.000), but the PDW values of the
moderate and severe groups did not differ significantly.
ROC curve analyses were used to evaluate the performance of each
biomarker in distinguishing acute bronchiolitis patients from controls,
and in assessing acute bronchiolitis severity. The AUC for IPF, MPV,
PDW, WBC, and PLT was 0.95, 0.85, 0.58, 0.79, and 0.71, respectively.
ROC curve analysis suggested that the cut-off for using IPF to predict
bronchiolitis was >3.2, with a sensitivity of 84% and a
specificity of 97%. The positive and negative predictive values of the
IPF were 98.7% and 73.5%, respectively. The AUC was greatest for IPF
(Fıgure1). IPF, MPV, and PDW ROC curves showed significant sensitivity
and selectivity in patients (p < 0.001; Table III). For
all patients, this was the first bronchiolitis attack. At admission, the
median body temperature of patients was 37°C (36–39.3°C) and their
median oxygen saturation was 91% (75–99%). In total, 99 patients had
a chest X-ray finding (e.g., diffuse interstitial consolidation
or increased aeration), 68 patients were given antibiotics, and 71
patients received steroid therapy (all patients in the severe group and
42.3% of patients in the moderate group). All patients were provided
with supportive therapy such as hydration, oxygen, and salbutamol
nebules if indicated.