Diagnostic utility of circulating interleukin-1 beta and microRNA-146a in differentiating febrile seizures from other pediatric conditions

Figure 1 Plasma interleukin-1 beta concentrations and microRNA-146a expression in the febrile seizure, fever-only, seizure-only, and healthy subjects groups. A: Kruskal-Wallis test revealed a statistically significant difference in plasma interleukin-1 beta levels among the febrile seizure (FS), fever-only (FO), seizure-only (SO), and healthy subjects (HS) groups (P < 0.0001). Pairwise comparisons using the Dunn-Bonferroni post-hoc test confirmed that interleukin-1 beta expression in FS patients was significantly higher than in the FO, SO, and HS groups. Bar charts display the mean expression (mean ± SD) of variables across the study groups; B: Moreover, the HS group exhibited the highest mean plasma microRNA-146a (miR-146a) expression at 0.9992 ± 0.01467, whereas the FS group showed the lowest levels at 0.3853 ± 0.16847. Intermediate levels were recorded in the FO group at 0.6181 ± 0.20504 and the SO group at 0.8072 ± 0.09646. Statistical analysis using the independent-samples Kruskal-Wallis test indicated significant differences in miR-146a expression among the groups (P < 0.0001). Post-hoc pairwise comparisons with the Dunn-Bonferroni test confirmed that miR-146a expression in FS patients was significantly lower than in all other groups (P < 0.0001). The HS group demonstrated significantly higher miR-146a levels compared to the FO group (P < 0.0001) and the SO group (P < 0.001). Statistically significant differences are denoted by asterisks: ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001, ^dP < 0.0001. IL-1β: Interleukin-1 beta; miR-146a: MicroRNA-146a; FS: Febrile seizure; FO: Fever-only; SO: Seizure-only; HS: Healthy subjects.