<![CDATA[Bile excretion disorders, such as cholestasis could affect people of all ages, including newborns. Although it has been regularly used to treat cholestasis, the use of ursodeoxycholic acid in pediatric patients remains a topic of debate. This study aims to assess the impact of ursodeoxycholic acid treatment on liver biomarkers in pediatric cholestasis across distinct age groups (under 3 months and 3-36 months). This was an observational analytic study using the retrospective cohort method in children with cholestasis who had received ursodeoxycholic acid therapy for 2 weeks. Secondary data including routine liver function tests; aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bilirubin, and direct bilirubin were taken from medical records of the outpatient clinic in the Department of Child Health, Dr. Soetomo General Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia, from January 2020 to December 2023. Subjects who met the inclusion criteria were divided into 2 groups based on age. The first group contains subjects with an age range of 1-3 months, while the other group contains subjects older than 3 months to 36 months. A total of 104 subjects were dominated by the male gender (56.07%). The results of the comparative test showed that the levels of AST, ALT, total bilirubin and direct bilirubin were decreased in both groups, except for ALT levels in children aged <3 months. Younger children had a significant increase in ALT levels after administration of ursodeoxycholic acid (281.8±165.2 vs 224.1±167.2, p =0.019). This was attributed to drug interactions due to the use of multiple medications that could not be controlled. Significant decreases occurred in the values of AST, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin (group 1) and AST (group 2) with sequential values were 179.2±139.2 vs 294.5±229.7, p =0.033; 10.8±4.5 vs 6.6±5.3 p =0.019; 7.3±3.6 vs 4.7±3.9 p <0.001 and 229.8±175.7 vs 229.6±210.9 p <0.001. While the difference in the values of the four parameters between the two groups was found in AST and total bilirubin marker. Ursodeoxycholic acid is effective in improving liver function biomarkers in pediatric cholestasis. Therapeutic response to ursodeoxycholic acid administration is more commonly found in younger age.]]>
