Estrogen Levels Predict Mortality In The Critically Ill

[haidut]

It took me a while to find this study, but I thought it was worth sharing with the forum. I remember back in my ketosis/nocarb days this hit the front page of Google News and for some reason it caught my eye. It seems that estrogen levels upon admission to hospital and their change (increase/decrease) while in the hospital is a VERY strong predictor of survival for the patient. Here is the study:

Trends in estradiol during critical illness are associated with mortality independent of admission estradiol. - PubMed - NCBI

"...BACKGROUND: We have previously demonstrated that elevated serum estradiol (E(2)) at intensive care unit (ICU) admission is associated with death in the critically ill, regardless of sex. However, little is known about how changes in initial E(2) during the course of care might signal increasing patient acuity or risk of death. We hypothesized that changes from baseline serum E(2) during the course of critical illness are more strongly associated with mortality than a single E(2) level at admission."

"...CONCLUSIONS: Although high admission levels of E(2) are associated with mortality, changes from baseline E(2) in critically ill or injured adults are independently associated with mortality. Future studies of E(2) dynamics may yield new indicators of patient acuity and illuminate underlying mechanisms for targeted therapy."

 

[aguilaroja]

...estrogen levels upon admission to hospital and their change (increase/decrease) while in the hospital is a VERY strong predictor of survival for the patient. Here is the study:
Trends in estradiol during critical illness are associated with mortality independent of admission estradiol. - PubMed - NCBI

A single center study earlier this year gave a confirming result:

Serum Estradiol Level at Intensive Care Unit Admission and Mortality in Critically Ill Patients
"...serum estradiol level measured at ICU admission was significantly higher in nonsurvivors than in survivors: 116 versus 67.2 pg/mL, respectively...."
"The serum estradiol level is elevated in critically ill patients, regardless of gender, especially in those who die. It has good discriminative capacity to predict mortality, and it is an independent risk factor for death in this group of patients."

 

[haidut]

A single center study earlier this year gave a confirming result:

Serum Estradiol Level at Intensive Care Unit Admission and Mortality in Critically Ill Patients
"...serum estradiol level measured at ICU admission was significantly higher in nonsurvivors than in survivors: 116 versus 67.2 pg/mL, respectively...."
"The serum estradiol level is elevated in critically ill patients, regardless of gender, especially in those who die. It has good discriminative capacity to predict mortality, and it is an independent risk factor for death in this group of patients."

Wow, amazing! And btw, the estradiol level in survivors was above range too. I guess elevated estradiol is to be expected when critically ill but even 67.2 pg/mL seems too high.

 

[Dotdash]

So, in light of these studies, is progesterone therapy helpful for critically ill individuals with high estradiol, or is this study just to acknowledge another marker for extreme inflammation.