Acta Pharm. 52 (2002) 261-268

Reduced IgA levels in sera of children with respiratory diseases

SLAVICA DODIG,^1* JADRANKA ZIVCIC¹, MILJENKO RAOS,¹ BORO NOGALO,¹ BOJAN BENKO,² BRANISLAVA MAMULA¹ and IVANA CEPELAK ³

slavica.dodig@zg.hinet.hr

¹Special Hospital for Respiratory Diseases in Children and Adolescents, Zagreb
²Institute for Immunology, Zagreb
³Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb, Zagreb

Immunoglobulin A concentration in sera of children with recurrent respiratory diseases (N = 4440), aged 1 to 15 years, was determined using the standard method of radial immunodiffusion on ready-made immunodiffusion plates. 0.6% of subjects had selective IgA deficiency (IgA: 0.013 to 0.049 g L^-1), which is an incidence of 1:159, and 1.6% children had partial IgA deficiency (IgA: 0.05 to 0.10 g L^-1). Subjects with selective IgA deficiency showed significantly increased IgG values. The therapy included antibiotics (according to antibiogram), inhalation of secretolytics and bronchodilators, and physical therapy such as position specific drainage and expectoration exercises. Preparation of the national register of persons with selective IgA deficiency is suggested for the needs of transfusion medicine and for epidemiological studies.

Keywords: selective IgA deficiency, child, immunodeficiency