Change and significance of serum GM-CSF and cortison of patients with nocturnal asthma

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-266X.2001.03.002

Abstract：In order to explore the relationship between variation of GM-CSFand cortisone and the nocturnal worsening of symptoms in patients with nocturnal asthma.Serum GM-CSF and cortisone were measured in 14 cases acute exacerbation and stablity of nocturnal asthmatic patients and 14 normal control subjects at 4am and 4pm.Results showed that the level of GM-CSF in acute exacerbation of asthmatic group was higher than that of normal subjects at 4 am（P＜0.01）and 4 pm（P＜0.05）.It was also higher than stable asthmatic group at both 4 am and 4 pm（P＜0.05）.Neither stable asthmatic group nor normal subjects had circadian variation of serum GM-CSF.In acute excerbation asthmatic group，GM-CSF was relatively higher median at 4 am than 4 pm（42.28 to 36.28pg／dl），but it had no statistical significance（P＞0.05）.The level of cortisone in both asthmatic groups showed significantly lower than that in normal control subjects in respective time（P＜0.01）.It also showed that both groups of asthmatic subjects had no circadian variaton of serum cortisone.However，the level of cortisone was higher at 4 am and lower at 4 pm in normal subjects.This suggests that the increasing level of GM-CSF is related to acute excerbation of asthma.The relationship between the level of GM-CSF and worsening symptoms of asthma at night is unclear.The lower level and no circadian variation of cirtisone promote nocturnal worsening symptoms of asthma.