@article {Mohanp3520, author = {Anant Mohan and Dharmendra Prasad and Alpana Sharma and Randeep Guleria and S.K. Sharma}, title = {Association of systemic inflammation with clinical recovery in patients with acute exacerbation of COPD}, volume = {38}, number = {Suppl 55}, elocation-id = {p3520}, year = {2011}, publisher = {European Respiratory Society}, abstract = {Background: The association between changes in inflammatory markers and clinical response in acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) is poorly defined.Methods: Serum levels of Interleukin-6 (IL-6), High sensitivity C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP), and Fibrinogen were measured in patients with AECOPD at the time of admission and one month after discharge (stable state) and correlated with mortality and indices of disease severity.Results: Out of 53 patients admitted with AECOPD during the study period, mortality was 28.4\%. Patients who died were older, had significantly higher baseline serum IL-6, Hs-CRP, and Fibrinogen, higher smoking index, APACHE-II and SAPS-II scores. The 38 survivors were mostly males (82\%), with mean (SD) age 63(8) years, mean (SD) duration of COPD of 11 (5) years, and mean (SD) smoking index of 288 (75). Majority (29/38) had type I exacerbation. Of these, 33 patients completed one month follow up assessment and demonstrated normalization of arterial blood gases, leucocyte counts and acute symptoms. They had a significant decline in serum IL-6 (152.5 and 14.05 pg/ml, p=0.001), Hs-CRP (18.2 and 3.5 mg/L, p=0.001), and Fibrinogen (46.3 and10.4 g/L, p=0.001) respectively from baseline till the stable state though the levels remained above the normal cutoffs. However, there was no statistically significant correlation between the change in the inflammatory markers with various indices of clinical and laboratory recovery from acute episode.Conclusion: Although the initial surge in systemic inflammatory activity in AECOPD declines with recovery, the rate of normalization seems to lag behind the other conventional indices of disease activity and severity.}, issn = {0903-1936}, URL = {https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p3520}, eprint = {https://erj.ersjournals.com/content}, journal = {European Respiratory Journal} }