The significance of the serum ferritin in Legionella pneumonia in children

Objective To investigate the role of serum ferritin in Legionella pneumonia in children.Methods Seventy-nine children with confirmed Legionella pneumonia were analyzed retrospectively.The hospitalized children with bacterial pneumonia,viral pneumonia,mycoplasma pneumonia and tumor in the same period were enrolled as controls.The serum ferritin levels before and after treatments were assessed by chemiluminescence.Results The serum ferritin level in Legionella pneumonia group was(1 589.2±254.8) ng/mL before treatment,while it was(867.9±62.7) ng/mL in tumor group;and they were significantly higher than those in the other control groups(P0.05).The ferritin le-vels in bacterial pneumonia group and viral pneumonia group were normal,while was slightly increased in some cases in mycoplasma pneumonia group.Significant reduction of ferritin was revealed in Legionella pneumonia group after treatments,and furthermore significantly more prominent than those in the control groups(P0.01),in which there was no significant reduction after treatment.Conclusion The elevated serum ferritin strongly suggests the diagnosis of Legionella pneumonia in children,especially when it is 5~6 times over the normal level.Furthermore,it can be applied in prognosis prediction of treatment.