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.