Significantly elevated C-reactive protein serum levels are associated with very high 30-day mortality rates in hospitalized medical patients.
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.
Chundadze
Tamar
T
Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Steinvil
Arie
A
Finn
Talya
T
Saranga
Hila
H
Guzner-Gur
Hanan
H
Berliner
Shlomo
S
Justo
Dan
D
Paran
Yael
Y
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
D002097:C-Reactive Protein