• Chi-Lun Huang, Yen-Wen Wu, Ai-Ru Hsieh, Yu-Hsuan Hung, Wen-Jone Chen, and Wei-Shiung Yang.
• Crit Care. 2013 Jan 1;17(1):R22.

IntroductionHyperglycemia and insulin resistance are commonplace in critical illness, especially in patients with sepsis. Recently, several hormones secreted by adipose tissue have been determined to be involved in overall insulin sensitivity in metabolic syndrome-related conditions, including adipocyte fatty-acid binding protein (A-FABP). However, little is known about their roles in critical illness. On the other hand, there is evidence that several adipose tissue gene expressions change in critically ill patients.MethodsA total of 120 patients (72 with sepsis, 48 without sepsis) were studied prospectively on admission to a medical ICU and compared with 45 healthy volunteers as controls. Various laboratory parameters and metabolic and inflammatory profiles were assessed within 48 hours after admission. Clinical data were collected from medical records.ResultsCompared with healthy controls, serum A-FABP concentrations were higher in all critically ill patients, and there was a trend of higher A-FABP in patients with sepsis. In multivariate correlation analysis in all critically ill patients, the serum A-FABP concentrations were independently related to serum creatinine, fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, TNF-alpha, albumin, and the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores. In survival analysis, higher A-FABP levels (> 40 ng/ml) were associated with an unfavorable overall survival outcome, especially in sepsis patients.ConclusionsCritically ill patients have higher serum A-FABP concentrations. Moreover, A-FABP may potentially serve as a prognostic biomarker in critically ill patients with sepsis.

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