title: Septic shock in older people: a prospective cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Septic shock is the first cause of death in Intensive Care Units. Despite experimental data showing increased inflammatory response of aged animals following infection, the current accepted hypothesis claims that aged patients are immunocompromised, when compared to young individuals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Here, we describe a prospective cohort study designed to analyze the immune profile of this population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Older people are as immunocompetent as the young individual, regarding the cytokines, chemokines and growth factors response to devastating infection.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medicine Department, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. pinheirofabiano@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Fabiano
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pinheiro da Silva
authors.forename: Fernando Godinho
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Zampieri
authors.forename: Denise Frediani
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Barbeiro
authors.forename: Hermes Vieira
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Barbeiro
authors.forename: Alessandra Carvalho
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Goulart
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Torggler Filho
authors.forename: Irineu Tadeu
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Velasco
authors.forename: Luiz Monteiro
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: da Cruz Neto
authors.forename: Heraldo Possolo
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.forename: Marcel Cerqueira César
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Machado