What causes high ESR and CRP levels in children?

Question

Hello doctor,

My son is 5 years old. I recently took him to his pediatrician because he has been sweating at night and running hot during the day. It is hard to tell if this is really a new thing because he has always run hot, but I felt like the sweating might be increasing. Doctor ordered for the bloodwork and everything was normal except a slightly elevated sedimentation rate of 36 and a CRP is 8.5. Doctor asked me whether he was sick when he had the tests done and actually he was sick before four days. He had a fever and sore throat for about a week before and conjunctivitis for about four days before getting his blood work done. The plan is to test him again after a month. I wanted a second opinion as I am worried about the elevated sedimentation rate and CRP. Do you believe it could be easily explained due to being sick a little before the blood work? He also has eczema, could that be the cause for these elevated levels as they are related to inflammation? Are those levels concerning something like cancer? I would love to some reassurance.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Elevated sedimentation rate of 36 and a CRP of 8.5, looks non-concerning to me. Not sure, what made you think about cancer. Usually, small kids do catch unknown bugs from their peer groups without throwing many symptoms. It seems he had a recent viral infection which can explain these laboratory reports. Nowadays we even do not check often these numbers. I am sure your doctor would have checked the kid for any lymph nodes in the neck and axilla. A follow-up laboratory check after month can be done. Meanwhile, if he is eating, playing well, I am not concerned. Cancer will present with more aggressive symptoms of fever, night sweats, lumps in the body. Usually, kids are more sicker than you are saying in your case. But it is always good to keep a watch for these symptoms.