Association between asthma control and periostin
There are conflicting results about the relationship between serum
periostin levels and asthma control status in children. El Basha et
al.(15) have found significantly higher serum periostin levels in
children during an asthma exacerbation compared to children with stable
asthma and healthy controls whereas In contrast to these findings Mena
et al. (16) have found an inverse association with lower serum periostin
levels in children with uncontrolled asthma. Licari et al. (17) did not
find an association between asthma control and serum periostin levels in
121 children with allergic asthma. In our study serum periostin was not
associated with asthma control, either. Asthma control status is
determined according to the symptoms in the last 4 weeks and it can be
different in every clinical visit. However, asthma severity is based on
the step of medications to control asthma symptoms in the last year and
it can be a better instrument in search of a biomarker that reflects the
degree of inflammation in a chronic disease like asthma.