ArticlePaediatrics & child health2020
Normal fecal calprotectin levels in healthy children are higher than in adults and decrease with age.
Article in Paediatrics & child health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Faecal Microbiota in Infants and Young Children with Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of timing on mucosal healing during restaging endoscopy in pediatric Crohn's disease: A retrospective cohort study.JPGN reports · 2026Article
- Faecal inflammatory protein markers in children with autism spectrum disorder are comparable to their healthy siblings.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Faecal calprotectin reference ranges in early childhood: a cross-sectional study of healthy infants in Hungary.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Article
- Fecal Myeloperoxidase Levels Reflect Disease Activity in Children With Crohn's Disease.Inflammatory bowel diseases · 2025Observational
- Association between stunting and fecal calprotectin levels in breastfed infants living in a rural area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a cross sectional study.African health sciences · 2024Article
- Gut Inflammation Markers, Diet, and Risk of Islet Autoimmunity in Finnish Children - A Nested Case-Control Study.The Journal of nutrition · 2024Article
- Fecal calprotectin in pediatric gastrointestinal diseases: Pros and cons.World journal of clinical pediatrics · 2024Article
- Recent developments in the assessment and management of inflammatory bowel disease in childhood: a narrative review.Translational pediatrics · 2023Review
- Article
- Fecal calprotectin levels in pediatric cow's milk protein allergy.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Article
- Fecal calprotectin in healthy children aged 4-16 years.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Calprotectin in inflammatory bowel disease.Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry · 2020Review
- Effect of Supplementation of Zinc, Glutamine, Fiber, and Prebiotics in Presumed Healthy Indonesian Children Aged 1-3 Years.Pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology & nutrition · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesThe paediatric reference range of fecal calprotectin (FC) has not been decisively established and previous studies show a wide within-age variability, suggesting that other factors like anthropometric data or type of feeding can influence FC. Our aims were to establish the normal levels of FC in healthy children grouped by age and analyze whether sex, gestational age, birth weight, type of delivery, type of feeding, or anthropometric data influence FC values.
methodsThis multicentre, cross-sectional, and observational study enrolled healthy donors under 18 years of age who attended their Primary Health Care Centre for their routine Healthy Child Program visits. The exclusion criteria were: (i) immunodeficiency, (ii) autoimmune or (iii) gastrointestinal disease; (iv) medication usage; (v) gastrointestinal symptoms; or (vi) positive finding in the microbiological study.
resultsWe enrolled 395 subjects, mean age was 4.2 years (range 3 days to 16.9 years), and 204 were male. The median FC was 77.0 mcg/g (interquartile range 246). A negative correlation between age and FC was observed (Spearman's rho = -0.603, P<0.01), and none of the other factors analyzed were found to influence FC levels.
conclusionsNormal FC values in healthy children (particularly in infants) are higher than those considered to be altered in adults and show a negative correlation with age. It is necessary to reconsider the upper limits of FC levels for paediatric patients according to age, with further studies required to determine other factors that influence FC during infancy.
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