Source: Anaesthesist  |  Posted 9 years ago

Oxidative stress is associated with the severity of acute abdominal pain among patients presenting to an emergency department.

Increasing evidence indicates that markers of oxidative stress might aid the evaluation of some abdominal conditions. To extend these findings, researchers from the National Cheng Kung University Medical College, Taiwan, enrolled 128 people experiencing acute abdominal pain who presented to the emergency department.

Compared to healthy controls, serum from patients presenting with acute abdominal pain showed lower total antioxidant capacity. Moreover, patients suffering acute abdominal pain expressed higher serum malondialdehyde levels than did controls.

The authors stratified patients depending on whether they were discharged within 24 hours or not. Patients admitted for more than 24 hours showed raised pulse rate, temperature and leukocyte count. Levels of C reactive protein were raised, while total antioxidant capacity was lower. On multivariate logistic regression, C reactive protein levels and total antioxidant capacity predicted disposition.

The authors concluded that oxidative stress is associated with the severity of acute abdominal pain in patients presenting to an emergency department. Measuring total antioxidant capacity might help guide the disposition of such patients in emergency departments.