Serum Iron and Plasma Fibrinogen Concentrations as Indicators of Systemic Inflammatory Diseases in Horses

• Published in: Journal of veterinary internal medicine Vol. 21; no. 3; pp. 489 - 494
• Main Authors: Borges, A.S, Divers, T.J, Stokol, T, Mohammed, O.H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-05-2007
• Subjects: Acute phase reactant protein; Acute-Phase Proteins - analysis; Animals; Biomarkers - blood; blood plasma; Case-Control Studies; diagnostic techniques; Female; fibrinogen; Fibrinogen - metabolism; Horse; Horse Diseases - blood; Horse Diseases - diagnosis; Horses; Inflammation; Inflammation - blood; Inflammation - diagnosis; Inflammation - veterinary; iron; Iron - blood; Male; Predictive Value of Tests; Prognosis; Retrospective Studies; Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome - blood; Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome - diagnosis; Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome - veterinary
• ISSN: 0891-6640; 1939-1676
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1939-1676.2007.tb02995.x

Background:Detection of systemic inflammation, which is important for proper diagnosis and prompt treatment, can be challenging.
Hypothesis:Measurement of plasma iron concentration is a sensitive method for detecting systemic inflammation in horses compared with measurements of plasma fibrinogen concentration, a traditional marker for inflammation in the horse.
Animals:Ninety‐seven horses hospitalized with diseases causing systemic inflammation, 22 horses with localized inflammation, and 12 clinically normal horses were included in this study.
Methods:A retrospective study was made on hospitalized horses that had both plasma iron and fibrinogen concentrations measured on hospital admission.
Results:Plasma iron concentration was lower in horses with systemic inflammation (64 ± 45 μg/dL) than the reference interval minimum (105 μg/dL) and were significantly lower (P= .001) than the value in a group of horses with local inflammation (123 ± 45 μg/dL) and in healthy transported horses (143 ± 29 μg/dL). Low plasma iron and high fibrinogen concentrations were both sensitive indicators of systemic inflammation in horses with sensitivity of 90 and 82%, respectively. There was a similar correlation between either continued decreases in iron concentration (Rsp of 0.239) or increases in fibrinogen concentration (Rsp of 0.280) during hospitalization and a worse prognosis.
Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Measurement of plasma iron concentration better reflected acute inflammation than did fibrinogen concentration.