Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Gamma globulin improves pulmonary function and increases C3 and C4 serum levels of septic children in pediatric intensive care unit

Zhongwei Yin^1,2, Guoyan Lu^1,2, Lili Luo^1,2, Haiyang Zhang^1,2

¹Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, West China Second University Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, China; ²NHC Key Laboratory of Chronobiology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.

For correspondence:- Haiyang Zhang Email: icudoc@163.com Tel:+862888570432

Accepted: 2 September 2022 Published: 28 October 2022

Citation: Yin Z, Lu G, Luo L, Zhang H. Gamma globulin improves pulmonary function and increases C3 and C4 serum levels of septic children in pediatric intensive care unit. Trop J Pharm Res 2022; 21(10):2253-2259 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v21i10.29

© 2022 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To probe into the effects of gamma globulin on the pulmonary functions, and C3 and C4 serum levels of septic children in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

Methods: Sixty-seven children with sepsis were retrospectively analyzed and assigned into study group (SG, n = 36) and control group (CG, n = 31) based on treatment modalities. The children in CG received conventional sepsis treatment, while children in SG were treated with gamma globulin. Differences in pulmonary function as well as C3 and C4 serum levels were compared in both groups before and after treatment. Children in SG were assigned into mild group (n = 21) and severe group (n = 15) in based on the severity of their conditions.

Results: After treatment, SG showed higher forced vital capacity (FVC) and peak expiratory flow (PEF) than CG (p < 0.05). SG also showed higher C3 and C4 serum levels than CG after treatment (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Administration of gamma globulin to children in PICU significantly improves lung function and increases their serum C3 and C4 levels. C3 and C4 serum levels of septic children in PICU correlate with prognosis. Hence, C3 and C4 can be regarded as indicators for the diagnosis, evaluation and prognosis of septic children in PICU.

Keywords: Gamma globulin, Pediatric intensive care unit, Sepsis, Pulmonary function, Serum complement, Impact analysis