# Evaluation and clinical significance of serum neurospecific enolase in children with pneumonia: a case-control study

## TL;DR

This study finds that serum neurospecific enolase (NSE) levels are elevated in children with pneumonia, suggesting it could help diagnose and assess the severity of the condition.

## Contribution

The study introduces NSE as a potential clinical biomarker for diagnosing and evaluating pediatric pneumonia severity.

## Key findings

- NSE levels were significantly higher in children with pneumonia compared to healthy controls.
- NSE levels were higher in severe pneumonia cases compared to mild cases.
- NSE showed better diagnostic value than CRP and ESR for pneumonia detection.

## Abstract

Neurospecific Enolase (NSE), a multifunctional protein, is present in various tissues of the body and plays an important role in many disease processes, such as infection, inflammation, tumours, injury, and immunity. In recent years, the application of NSE in respiratory diseases has become increasingly widespread and a research hotspot.

This study aims to explore the relationship between NSE and childhood pneumonia, providing assistance for the diagnosis and assessment of pneumonia.

Using prospective research and case-control methods, We selected 129 children with pneumonia hospitalised in Weifang People’s Hospital from September 2020 to April 2022 as the case group. Among them were 67 cases of Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MP+), 62 cases of non-Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MP -), and 21 cases of severe pneumonia. At the same time, 136 children who underwent outpatient health examinations were selected as the control group. The levels of NSE, ESR, CRP in cases group and NSE in control group were measured separately.

The NSE levels in the MP + group were 17.86 (14.29–22.54) ng/mL, while those in the MP- group were 17.89 (14.10–21.66) ng/mL, both of which were higher than the control group’s NSE levels of 13.26(12.18,14.44) ng/mL (H = 46.92, P = 0.000). There was no statistically significant difference in NSE levels between the MP + and MP - groups (P > 0.05). The NSE level in the severe pneumonia group was 27.38 (13.95–34.06) ng/mL, higher than that in the mild pneumonia group, which was 17.68 (14.27–21.04) ng/mL, (P = 0.024). The AUC values for diagnosing pneumonia are NSE0.714, CRP0.539, and ESR0.535, with NSE having the highest diagnostic value.

Serum NSE can serve as an inflammatory indicator for paediatric pneumonia, which has important clinical guidance significance for the diagnosis, condition evaluation, and prognosis of paediatric pneumonia.