title: Acute phase reactants in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is increasing evidence that an inflammatory process is present in abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) to varying degrees. The aim of this study was to compare acute phase reactants in patients with asymptomatic AAA, symptomatic AAA without rupture and ruptured AAA.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and twenty-five consecutive patients treated because of AAA were included in this case-control study. Polynomial logistic regression analysis was applied to compare admission C-reactive protein (CRP) and white blood count (WBC) measured in 111 asymptomatic outpatients, 52 symptomatic patients without rupture and 62 patients with rupture of the aneurysm. We adjusted for the potentially confounding effect of age, sex, haemoglobin levels and aneurysm diameter.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with symptomatic AAA and patients with ruptured AAA had significantly elevated CRP (p=0.002) and WBC (p<0.0001) levels compared to asymptomatic patients. There was no statistically significant difference in CRP and WBC between patients with symptomatic AAA and ruptured AAA. Median CRP values of asymptomatic, symptomatic and ruptured AAA were <0.5 (interquartile range (IQR) <0.5-0.85), 1.1(IQR <0.5-4.0) and 2.4 mg/dl (IQR 0.65-8.6), respectively, and median WBC values were 6.5 (IQR 5.5-8.0), 8.7 (IQR 6.8-11.2) and 13.2 (IQR 10.5-17.0), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A significant elevation of CRP and WBC could be found in patients who presented with symptoms or rupture of an AAA. These indicators of inflammation were not observed in asymptomatic patients with AAA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Vienna General Hospital, University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20/6D, Austria. hans.domanovits@univie.ac.at
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Domanovits
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schillinger
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Müllner
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hölzenbein
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Janata
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bayegan
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Laggner
mesh_terms: D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D000210:Acute-Phase Reaction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000368:Aged; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001019:Aortic Rupture / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins; D015415:Biomarkers; D002097:C-Reactive Protein