title: Significantly elevated C-reactive protein serum levels are associated with very high 30-day mortality rates in hospitalized medical patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is insufficient data regarding the differential diagnosis and the prognostic value of significantly elevated serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in hospitalized medical patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of medical charts of patients admitted to a tertiary hospital's Internal Medicine ward during a period of 1 year who had at least one CRP serum level measurement of 200mg/L or more.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 341 patients with a mean age of 69.8+/-1.0 years were included in the study. Acute infection was the most prevalent diagnosis (n=293; 85.9%) with community-acquired pneumonia being the most common acute infection (n=115; 33.7%). Non-infectious conditions accounted for 9.1% (n=31) of the diagnoses and included mainly malignant metastatic diseases (n=19; 5.6%). Overall, 70 (20.5%) patients died within 30 days of admission. Age and active malignancy, with metastasis or without metastasis, were independently associated with 30-day mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Significantly elevated CRP serum levels are associated with bacterial infections, malignant diseases, and very high rates of 30-day mortality in hospitalized medical patients.
authors.affiliation: Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chundadze
authors.forename: Arie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steinvil
authors.forename: Talya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Finn
authors.forename: Hila
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saranga
authors.forename: Hanan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guzner-Gur
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berliner
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Justo
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Paran
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D002423:Cause of Death; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections; D009369:Neoplasms; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D002097:C-Reactive Protein