Dynamic trend in alkaline phosphatase activity in infants aged 0-12 months revealed by an indirect approach.

OBJECTIVE: Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is a ubiquitous enzyme in humans that can be used for diagnosing childhood diseases. Infants have the highest rapid growth rate and are susceptible to metabolic bone diseases. In infants, ALP activities exhibit significant month-wise variations, and authoritative standards are lacking. The present study aimed to provide a reference for the diagnosis of diseases related to abnormal ALP activities in infants. METHODS: This study included 24,618 samples collected from infants aged 0-12 months from three medical centers in Chongqing, China. Samples of infants diagnosed with diseases that may affect ALP activity have been exclude. ALP activity was analyzed using an automatic biochemical analyzer. A percentile curve for ALP activity in male and female infants was constructed using MATLAB, and the skewness-median-coefficient of variation method was employed for curve fitting. RESULTS: ALP activity in male and female infants peaked at 0-4 months; the peak appeared at 1-2 months and declined gradually thereafter. After 4-5 months of age, the ALP activities declined further, with the lowest values observed at 11-12 months of age. A comparison between the data from this study and a those from a published German study indicates that Chinese infants exhibited peak ALP activity later and subsequent decline greater than German infants. CONCLUSIONS: A percentile curve was constructed for month-wise ALP activity in male and female infants, which could provide a reference for diagnosing diseases related to abnormal ALP activity in infants.

Age-wise trends in alkaline phosphatase activity in 167,625 Chinese children aged 0-18 years.

OBJECTIVE: Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) serves as a biomarker for diagnosing several types of diseases in adults; nonetheless, its use is restricted in children because of changes in ALP activity during different physiological phases. The present study aimed to investigate ALP activity and its dynamics in children of different ages to establish the reference values for ALP activity in children. METHODS: Total 167,625 samples of children aged 0-18 years were enrolled in this study. ALP activity was measured using the 4-nitrophenyl-1-phosphate disodium salt (4-NPP)-2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) method with an automatic biochemical analyzer. Patients with known diagnoses that may affect ALP activity were excluded. A percentile curve was plotted using MATLAB software, and the curve was fitted using the skewness-median-coefficient of variation (LMS) method. RESULTS: ALP activity reached the highest peak at 12-13 years of age and then gradually decreased to the lowest peak at 18-19 years of age in boys, whereas it reached the highest at 10-11 years and then gradually reduced to the lowest at 17-18 years in girls. Furthermore, the highest peak of ALP activity appeared substantially earlier in children of either sex in China than in those in Germany. CONCLUSIONS: We showed the dynamics of ALP activity in both boys and girls between the ages of 0 and 18 years in China and compared the difference in ALP activity between children in China and Germany. Our findings provide a reference for clinicians.