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Estimations of a degree of steroid induced leukocytosis in patients with acute infections.
Am J Emerg Med. 2017 Oct 07;:
Authors: Frenkel A, Kachko E, Cohen K, Novack V, Maimon N
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Glucocorticosteroids (GCS) are known to cause the hematologic effect of leukocytosis and neutrophilia. Leukocytosis is a key parameter in establishing the diagnosis of sepsis and in the estimation of its severity.
OBJECTIVE: To quantify the effect of chronic or acute GCS treatment on the level of leukocytosis in patients with acute infectious process.
METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with an acute infection hospitalized in tertiary medical center between the years 2003-2014. Patients were classified into three categories: chronic GCS treatment, acute GCS treatment, no GCS treatment. The primary outcome was the maximal WBC count within the first 24h from admission.
RESULTS: We identified 5468 patients with acute infection: 333 of them with chronic GCS treatment, 213 with acute GCS treatment and 4922 with no GCS treatment. The overall maximal leukocytes count was higher in GCS therapy groups: 15.4±8.3×10(9)/L for the acute GCS treatment, 14.9±7.4×10(9)/L for chronic GCS treatment and 12.9±6.4×10(9)/L for the no GCS group (P<0.001).
CONCLUSION: In patients with acute infections chronically treated with GCS, an increase in the WBC is at average of 5×10(9)/L. These data must be taken into consideration while using the level of leukocytosis as a parameter in the diagnosis of the infectious process.
PMID: 29079374 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]