Association between serum HMGB1 elevation and early pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome: a retrospective study of pediatric living donor liver transplant recipients with biliary atresia in China

BACKGROUND: High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein is one of the main risk factors for pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS) after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). However, studies of the relationship between HMGB1 and PARDS are lacking. We evaluated the link between anomalies of intraoperative serum HMGB1 and PARDS in pediatric LDLT recipients with biliary atresia during the first week after transplant. METHODS: Data for 210 pediatric patients with biliary atresia who underwent LDLT between January 2018 and December 2021 were reviewed retrospectively. The main measure was serum HMGB1 levels 30 min after reperfusion, while the outcome was early PARDS after LDLT. Data including pretransplant conditions, laboratory indexes, variables of intraoperation, clinical complications, and outcomes after LDLT were analyzed for each patient. Univariate analysis of PARDS and multivariate logistic regression analyses of serum HMGB1 levels at 30 min in the neohepatic phase in the presence of PARDS were conducted to examine the potential associations. Subgroup interaction analyses and linear relationships between intraoperative serum HMGB1 levels and PARDS were also performed. RESULTS: Among the participants, 55 had PARDS during 7 days after LDLT, including four in the first HMGB1 tertile (4.3–8.1 pg/mL), 18 in the second tertile (8.2–10.6 pg/mL), and 33 in the third tertile (10.6–18.8 pg/mL). The nonadjusted association between intraoperative HMGB1 levels and PARDS was positive (odds ratio 1.41, 95% confidence intervals 1.24–1.61, P < 0.0001). The association remained unchanged after adjustment for age, weight, pretransplant total bilirubin, albumin, graft cold ischemia time, and intraoperative blood loss volume (odds ratio 1.28, 95% confidence interval 1.10–1.49, P = 0.0017). After controlling for potential confounders, the association between intraoperative HMGB1 levels and PARDS remained positive, as well as in the subgroup analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Serum HMGB1 levels at 30 min after reperfusion were positively associated with early PARDS among pediatric patients with biliary atresia who had undergone LDLT. Identifying such patients early may increase the efficacy of perioperative respiratory management. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12871-023-02040-0.