| Objective To explore the relationship of peripheral blood levels of C reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) with early liver damage in those patients with acute organic phosphorus pesticide poisoning (AOPP). Methods One hundred and twenty-eight cases of AOPP patients, ever treated in our hospital from Mar 2013 to Apr 2016, were selected and enrolled as the AOPP group. They were further divided into the mild poisoning group (n=36), the moderate poisoning group (n=45) and the severe poisoning group (n=48) according to their degree of poisoning, and other 56 healthy people underwent physical examination were simultaneously enrolled as the control group. The peripheral blood levels of CRP and IL-18, together with the 5 items of liver function (ALT, AST, TBL, ALB and TP), were detected at the day of admission and the 1st, 3rd, 7th day after admission, and the relationship of CRP and IL-18 levels with liver damage were conducted by Pearson analysis. Results The levels of CRP and IL-18 at the day of admission and the 1st, 3rd, 7th day after admission increased gradually in the AOPP group, with peak value at the third day and in decline after the 7th day, and these results at each day were all significantly higher than those in the control group (all P<0.05). The levels of CRP and IL-18 in the moderate and severe poisoning groups were significantly higher than that in the mild poisoning group (P<0.05), and in the severe poisoning group, levels of CRP and IL-18 at the 7th day were 4.94 and 2.96 times that on admission, respectively. The levels of ALT, AST and TBL in the AOPP group were significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05), and no statistically significant difference was found in the levels of ALB and TB between the two groups (P>0.05). But there was significant difference in the liver function between the severe and mild poisoning group (P<0.05). The levels of CRP and IL-18 were positively correlated with those of ALT, AST and TBL, and were negatively correlated with that of ALB (P<0.05). Conclusion The CRP and IL-18 levels in peripheral blood in those AOPP patients were closely related to their degree of poisoning, poisoning time and early liver damage. Thus, dynamic change monitoring of the peripheral blood CRP and IL-18 levels would be helpful to identify liver function changes earlier in the AOPP patients. |
