Background: Bronchial asthma (BA) is a common and potentially serious chronic illness in childhood. It imposes a substantial burden on the community, patients, and their families, pulmonary function tests variability and post-bronchodilator reversibility are useful diagnostic tools. Folate is an essential water-soluble vitamin found in various foods and in supplements and food fortifiers as folic acid. A diet high in folate or folic acid can reduce the likelihood of asthma exacerbations and wheezing. Folate deficiency is linked to severe asthma exacerbations and increased atopy in children. Aim and objectives: To compare serum folate level in asthmatic patients to non-asthmatic healthy controls, and to demonstrate whether folate level correlates to severity &/or frequency of asthma exacerbations and pulmonary function parameters. Subjects and methods; This a case control study that was conducted in Pediatrics department at AL Hussein and El-Sayed Galal university hospitals during the period from Feb 2022 to November 2022 on Sixty children were admitted at Pediatrics department at AL Hussein and El-Sayed Galal university hospitals with newly diagnosed as asthma exacerbation. Result: Cases compared to controls. Serum folate was significantly lower in severe asthma exacerbation cases compared to moderate patients compared to mild patients. There is a positive significant correlation between serum folate with FEV1, FVC, and FEV1/FVC among cases group. Conclusion: Serum folate levels were significantly lower in asthmatic children than in controls. Serum folate also had significant inverse correlations with the severity and frequency of asthma exacerbations, as well as with severity of asthma as a chronic illness.
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