Purpose: to study the effects of passive smoking on infants with pneumonia in the context of the relationship between severity of pneumonia, the level of IgE, CRP and genetic determinants of inflammatory response.
Research design: the study was conducted among 150 infants with pneumonia of varying severity. The first group included 50 infants-passive smokers whose mothers smoke, the second group included 50 infants-passive smokers whose mothers did not smoke, but smoke other relatives in the family, the third group included 50 infants with pneumonia of varying severity in families where no one smokes.
Results: among the infants with pneumonia of varying severity has been found the greatest frequency of heterozygous variant C/T polymorphism of the gene IL-4 (C-589T) — 43% and heterozygous variant G/A polymorphism of the gene TNF-α (G-308A) — 49%.
It was found the highest average duration of the clinical manifestations of pneumonia among infants-passive smokers with polymorphism C/C and polymorphism C/T gene IL-4 (C-589T). The average duration of the clinical manifestations of pneumonia among infants with normal variant G/G, heterozygous variant G/A and mutant variant A/A gene polymorphism of TNF-α (G-308A) was higher among infants in families where both parents smoke and among infants in families where only father smokes, compared with infants which are free from the negative effect of tobacco smoke. It was found a high level of IgE among infants, in families where both parents smoke or among infants, in families where only father smokes. It was found a high level of CRP among infants, in families where both parents smoke compared to infants in families where only father smokes and infants which are free from the negative effect of tobacco smoke.
Conclusions: the data suggests the presence of link between heterozygous and mutant forms of gene polymorphisms in cytokines IL-4 (C-589T) and TNF-α (G-308A) in infants-passive smokers with longer duration of clinical manifestations of pneumonia (Mean ± SEM).