Abstract
Because oxidative damage to erythrocytes plays an important pathophysiologic role
in many diseases and there are some difficulties in obtaining reference intervals
for children in many laboratory tests, this work intends to describe the determination
of oxidative stress parameters and the results obtained for children. A total of 280
blood samples were obtained from children between 8 and 11 years old, without any
hematological disease. Samples were analyzed for seven oxidative stress parameters,
methemoglobin, reduced glutathione, TBARS, percentage of hemolysis and activity of
the enzymes G6PD, superoxide dismutase, and catalase. To draw a comparison, the same
parameters were analyzed in children with sickle cell disease. Because all results
presented normal distribution in the Kolmogorov-Smirnov, data were expressed as 2.5
and 97.5th accumulated percentiles and the statistical analysis between male and female
children was performed using Student t-test. A p value <0.05 was considered significant. Except for hemolysis, no significant difference
was observed on oxidative stress parameters, in normal children, separated by sex.
Except for reduced glutathione and superoxide dismutase, significant differences were
observed in all parameters between normal children and those with sickle cell disease.
Oxidative stress parameters can be determined in children using simple laboratory
methods with small volumes of blood and the establishment of reference intervals is
necessary to improve clinical decisions.
Keywords
reference intervals - oxidative stress - children
