• Umme Kolsum, Kay Roy, Cerys Starkey, Zoë Borrill, Nick Truman, Jørgen Vestbo, and Dave Singh.
• North West Lung Research Centre, University of Manchester, South Manchester University Hospitals Trust, Wythenshawe, Manchester, UK. ukolsum@meu.org.uk
• Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2009 Jan 1;4:149-56.

BackgroundMany of the systemic manifestations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are mediated through increased systemic levels of inflammatory proteins. We assessed the long term repeatability of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and C-reactive protein (CRP) over one year and examined the relationships between these systemic markers in COPD.MethodsFifty-eight stable COPD patients completed a baseline and one-year visit. Serum IL-6, plasma CRP, and plasma TNF-alpha were measured. Repeatability was expressed by intraclass correlation coefficient (R(i)) and the Bland-Altman method. Pearson correlations were used to determine the relationships between the systemic markers at both visits.ResultsThere was moderate repeatability with a very high degree of statistical significance (p ConclusionsSystemic inflammatory biomarkers IL-6, CRP, and TNF-alpha were moderately repeatable over a twelve month period in COPD patients. We have also shown that a robust and repeatable association between IL-6 and CRP exists.

29 keywords...

hide…