title: Sympathoadrenal activation and endothelial damage in patients with varying degrees of acute infectious disease: an observational study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate levels, associations between, and predictive value of plasma catecholamines and biomarkers of endothelial damage in patients with acute infectious illness stratified according to infection type and sepsis severity.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a post hoc study of plasma samples collected in prospective studies conducted at a department of internal medicine. Plasma catecholamines, syndecan-1, and thrombomodulin were measured. Registration of biochemistry, physiology, and 28- and 90-day mortality was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients (n = 321) were stratified into 5 groups: no infection (n = 50), local infection (n = 63), sepsis (n = 95), severe sepsis (n = 100), or septic shock (n = 13). Median Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score in all patients was 2, and 28- and 90-day mortality was 6% and 10%. Syndecan-1 and thrombomodulin increased progressively across groups with increasing disease severity (both P < .001), correlating with SOFA score in all groups (ρ = 0.24-0.87, all P < .05). Plasma noradrenaline, syndecan-1, and thrombomodulin were higher in nonsurvivors (P < .05) and by log-rank test, levels above median predicted increased 28-day (noradrenaline and syndecan-1, P < .05) and 90-day (thrombomodulin, P < .05) mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Biomarkers of endothelial glycocalyx and cell damage increased with increasing acute infectious disease severity, correlated with SOFA score, and predicted mortality together with plasma noradrenaline. Sympathoadrenal activation and endothelial damage are linked to disease pathology also in less sick patients.
authors.affiliation: Section for Transfusion Medicine, Capital Region Blood Bank, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: sisse.ostrowski@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sisse R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Ostrowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Odense University Hospital, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. Electronic address: shahingaini@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Shahin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gaïni
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Odense University Hospital, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. Electronic address: court.pedersen@ouh.regionsyddanmark.dk.
authors.forename: Court
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.affiliation: Section for Transfusion Medicine, Capital Region Blood Bank, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery, Centre for Translational Injury Research (CeTIR), University of Texas Medical School at, Houston, TX. Electronic address: per.johansson@regionh.dk.
authors.forename: Pär I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Johansson
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000097:blood*; D063305:Organ Dysfunction Scores; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality; D012772:Shock, Septic / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality; D053668:Syndecan-1 / Q000097:blood*; D018180:Thrombomodulin / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D002395:Catecholamines; D053668:Syndecan-1; D018180:Thrombomodulin; D009638:Norepinephrine
keywords: Catecholamines; Endothelium; Infection; Sepsis; Syndecan-1; Thrombomodulin