Detection and diagnostic value of serum NSE and S100B protein levels in patients with seizures associated with mild gastroenteritis: A retrospective observational study

Benign convulsions with mild gastroenteritis (CwG) and febrile seizures (FS) associated with mild gastroenteritis are 2 different diseases in the spectrum of seizures associated with mild gastroenteritis. However, specific and useful indicators for the identification of the 2 diseases are lacking. A retrospective analysis was performed to compare the serum neuronal-specific enolase (NSE) and S100B protein levels between patients with these 2 diseases to evaluate the value of NSE and S100B for differential diagnosis between these 2 diseases. The clinical data and NSE and S100B protein levels of 81 children with seizure-associated mild gastroenteritis were collected. According to the axillary temperature at the time of convulsions, all patients were classified into an afebrile seizure (AFS) group, hereafter called the CwG group (n = 46), and a febrile seizure group (FS group, n = 35). The serum NSE level was higher in the CwG group than in the FS group (14.046 (11.095, 19.266) pg/ml and 9.034 (7.158, 12.165) pg/ml, respectively, P < .001); however, the serum S100B protein levels in the CwG and the FS group were not significantly different (P > .05). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) for NSE was 0.806, P = .000, which was statistically significant. The Youden index was largest (0.605) for a serum NSE cut-off value of 10.460 pg/ml, which yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 89% and 71%, respectively, for prediction of a CwG diagnosis. NSE may contribute to the differential diagnosis of CwG and FS associated with mild gastroenteritis.