Diagnostic Values of Blood and Serum Markers for Active Disease in Children with Ulcerative Colitis

Diagnostic Values of Blood and Serum Markers for Ulcerative Colitis

Abstract

Background:Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by colonic mucosal ulceration. The search for noninvasive tests can reduce the use of endoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of ulcerative colitis is ongoing. This study aimed to find noninvasive biomarkers for endoscopically diagnosed ulcerative colitis that adequately reflect histologic disease activity.

Materials and Methods:This study is based on the retrospective comparison of the data of pediatric patients between the ages of 0-18 years who were followed up with a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis and healthy children who were constituted the control group. Pre- and post-treatment values of these parameters in the control group and the patient group were compared separately.

Results:The present study was conducted with a total of 72 children, including 36 ulcerative colitis and 36 healthy controls. Following a comparative analysis of four parameters (ESR, CRP, MCV, and albumin) were identified as exhibiting similar characteristics across the high and low levels. The logistic regression analysis of these parameters revealed that ESR and CRP were associated with a high ulcerative colitis diagnosis, while MCV and albumin were associated with a low diagnosis.In the ROC analysis, whereas 8.5 mm/h for ESR and 1.89 mg/L for CRP were found as cut-off values.

Conclusions:In cases where there is suspicion of inflammatory bowel disease, it would be appropriate to refer patients to procedures involving simple blood tests. This approach is preferable to reaching a diagnosis with costly, difficult-to-access noninvasive tests or invasive procedures. The presence of ESR and CRP elevation, as well as low levels of MCV and albumin, can serve as a triage tool.