Abstract

It has been suggested that elevated serum level of YKL-40 could be a marker for asthma and its severity. Along with few published studies, we investigated its correlation with asthma and its severity as well as spirometric indices. 114 patients with asthma and 114 healthy controls underwent the assessment of serum level of YKL-40 (by ELISA) and spirometric indices. Pearson's coefficient determined the correlation between the variables and multivariate linear regression analysis was used for adjusting the effect of different probable confounding factors. Serum levels of YKL-40 were significantly higher in the asthmatic patients compared to those in healthy people (p<0.001). We also found a significant correlation between YKL-40 serum level and spirometric indices even after adjusting the effects of other variables. We report for the first time in an Iranian population that YKL-40 may be a good diagnostic marker of asthma in serum.