The usefulness of an inflammation meter to detect the presence of infection/inflammation in elderly patients.

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Abstract
Background. Medical personnel who work in small geriatric institutions most frequently do not have access to realtime laboratory facilities. Methods. In order to present a new method to determine the presence of an inflammatory response and for the assessment of its intensity, 118 patients aged 77 ± 6 years with various bacterial infections were evaluated as well as 129 elderly individuals with various stressful conditions but no acute infections who served as controls. The leukocyte and erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation tests were performed by using a simple slide test and image analysis. The availability of the CD11b/CD18 and CD62L antigen on the leukocytes' surface was measured by whole blood flow cytometry, and the quantitative C-reactive protein by using laser nephelometry and specific antihuman C-reactive protein antibodies. Results. A significant difference was noted between patients and controls for all variables obtained by the slide test and image analysis. In addition, a highly significant correlation was noted between the number of leukocytes counted on the slides and white blood cell count, between the leukocyte adhesiveness/aggregation test and quantitative C-reactive protein, and between the degree of erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation and either the Westergren sedimentation or fibrinogen concentration. Conclusions. By using our low-cost and real-time slide test, any medical or paramedical personnel can get relevant information regarding the presence of an acute phase response at the point of care.