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Thursday, 07/23/2009
C-Reactive Protein Improves Prediction of Mortality in Community-Acquired Pneumonia
The journal Thorax publishes the results of this study involving cooperation between Hospital la Fe, Valencia and Hospital Clínic, Barcelona
Severity prognostic scores such as the PSI, CURB65 and CRB65 use a number of clinical parameters that are useful for predicting mortality at 30 days in patients with community-acquired pneumonia. A study recently published in Thorax and led by Dr. Rosario Menéndez of Hospital la Fe, Valencia, found that C-reactive protein improves the prediction of mortality of the commonly used prognostic scores.
The inflammatory biomarkers evaluated include procalcitonin (PCT), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukins 6 and 8 (IL-6 and IL-8). While in all the patients who died (36 out of 453 [7.8%]), PCT, IL-6 and IL-8, and CRP were significantly high, only CRP has been shown to improve prediction of mortality at 30 days.
The journal Thorax, which has an impact factor of 7.069, published the results of this study involving cooperation between Hospital la Fe, Valencia and Hospital Clínic, Barcelona. The article was accompanied by an editorial.