title: Cytokine profile in elderly patients with sepsis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sepsis is a serious health problem in the elderly with a high degree of mortality. There is very limited data available in elderly subjects regarding the markers for sepsis. Development of good markers will help in overall management and prediction of sepsis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Serial estimation of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-alpha) and their correlation with mortality in sepsis in elderly patients and to determine the influence of gender on cytokine production and mortality in elderly patients with sepsis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The prospective study was conducted at our tertiary care center from April 2007 to September 2008. Elderly Patients satisfying the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) criteria were included.
  
  
  METHODS
  TNF-alpha and IL-6 were estimated in 30 elderly patients admitted to our intensive care unit with SIRS and sepsis. The estimations were done on day 1, 3 and 7 of admission.
  
  
  METHODS
  Student and paired 't' tests, and ANOVA, which were further followed up by post-hoc 't' tests with Bonferroni correction using SPSS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reducing levels of IL-6 levels from day 1 to 7 was found in the survivor group. TNF-alpha level was significantly low on day 1 in the nonsurvivor female group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serial estimation of cytokines in elderly patients with sepsis will help in prediction of mortality. Female gender was an independent predictor of increased morality in critically ill patients with sepsis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, M S Ramaiah Medical Teaching Hospital, MSRIT Post, New BEL Road, Bangalore - 560 054, India.
authors.forename: Anil T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sudhir
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Punith
authors.forename: Rahul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: V N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Ravi Kumar
authors.forename: Medha Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Rao