The relationship between Brucella infection and aortic stiffness in children

OBJECTIVE: In this study, it was aimed to show whether Brucella infection, which causes various cardiovascular complications in children, can lead to an increase in aortic stiffness with a noninvasive method, echocardiography.
METHODS: Children who were diagnosed with Brucella infection and who had tachycardia, chest pain and murmur that were not related to body temperature increase during the treatment were evaluated cardiologically and had echocardiographic examination, were included in the study. Aortic strain, aortic distensibility measurement results and aortic stiffness index of the patients in the patient and control groups were calculated.
RESULTS: Our study included 53 cases with a mean age of 11.43±4.13 years in the patient group and 68 cases with a mean age of 10.16±3.61 years in the control group. We found that systolic blood pressure was lower in the patient group than in the control group (p=0.014). In the analysis of laboratory parameters, blood glucose level was found to be significantly higher in the patient group (p=0.001). In the statistical evaluation of aortic strain, aortic stiffness index and aortic distensibility measurement results between the patient and control groups, no statistically significant difference was found between the groups (p=0.287, p=0.784, p=0.208).
CONCLUSION: In our study, where we tried to show a new parameter that could contribute to the increase in aortic stiffness, the results showed that Brucella infection was not a factor that increased aortic stiffness in the pediatric age group.

Çocuklarda Brusella enfeksiyonu ile aortik stiffness arasýndaki iliþki

Amaç: Bu çalýþmada, çocuklarda çeþitli kardiyovasküler komplikasyonlara neden olan Brucella enfeksiyonunun aortik stiffness’ta artýþa neden olup olmadýðýnýn noninvaziv bir yöntem olan ekokardiyografi ile gösterilmesi amaçlandý.
Yöntemler: Brusella enfeksiyonu tanýsý alan ve tedavi sýrasýnda vücut ýsýsý artýþýna baðlý olmayan taþikardi, göðüs aðrýsý ve üfürüm þikayeti olduðu için kardiyolojik açýdan deðerlendirilmiþ ve ekokardiyografik inceleme yapýlmýþ çocuklar çalýþmaya alýndý. Hasta ve kontrol grubundaki olgularýn aortik strain, aortik distensibility ölçüm sonuçlarý ve aortik stiffness indeksi hesaplandý.
Bulgular: Çalýþmamýza hasta grubunda yaþ ortalamasý 11.43±4.13 yýl olan 53 olgu, kontrol grubunda ise yaþ ortalamasý 10.16±3.61 yýl olan 68 olgu dahil edildi. Hasta grubunda sistolik kan basýncýnýn kontrol grubuna göre daha düþük olduðunu bulduk (p=0.014). Laboratuvar parametrelerinin analizinde kan þekeri düzeyi hasta grubunda anlamlý olarak yüksek bulundu (p=0,001). Aortik strain, aortik stiffness indeksi ve aortik distensibilty ölçüm sonuçlarýnýn istatistiksel deðerlendirmesinde hasta ve kontrol gruplarý arasýnda istatistiksel olarak anlamlý fark bulunmadý (p=0.287, p=0.784, p=0.208).
Sonuç: Aortik stiffness de artýþa katkýda bulunabilecek yeni bir parametreyi göstermeye çalýþtýðýmýz çalýþmamýzda, sonuçlar Brucella enfeksiyonunun çocuk yaþ grubunda aortik stiffness parametrelerini artýran bir faktör olmadýðýný göstermiþtir. (NCI-2022-6-17)