The Application Value of Combined Detection of Serum IL-6, LDH, S100, NSE, and GFAP in the Early Diagnosis of Brain Damage Caused by Neonatal Asphyxia

We aimed to investigate the correlation and clinical significance between a group of serum biomarkers and brain damage caused by neonatal asphyxia, and to provide sensitive and effective detection methods for early diagnosis and prognosis improvement.

We enrolled neonates hospitalized in the neonatal department of The Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University of China from June 2020 to June 2021 as the study subjects. The levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), S100 protein, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in serum samples were measured using electrochemiluminescence (ECL), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or rate method and the correlations between these serum biomarkers and the degree of neonatal asphyxia and brain damage were statistically analyzed using Spearman test.

The levels of serum IL-6, LDH, S100, NSE, and GFAP in the neonatal asphyxia with brain damage group within 12 hours after birth were significantly higher than those in the neonatal asphyxia without brain damage group (all P<0.05). Additionally, these levels were positively correlated with the degree of asphyxia. The Area Under the Curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of IL-6 (0.8819), LDH (0.8108), S100 (0.8719), NSE (0.8719), and GFAP (0.8073) were revealed.

The combined detection of serum marker levels can simultaneously reflect neuronal injury, glial cell injury, and inflammatory injury, improve the accuracy of diagnosis of neonatal asphyxia with brain damage, and enable the formulation of treatment strategies as early as possible to reduce the incidence of complications of brain damage.