Effects of gender difference in early cytokine levels in trauma patients.

BACKGROUND: Experimental studies conducted on laboratory animals have demonstrated that gender differences affect the outcome following trauma-hemorrhage but, it is not clear yet whether the manipulation of sex steroids during clinical trauma affects the outcome. This study was designed to determine whether gender based changes occur in cytokine responses after trauma-hemorrhage. METHODS: Plasma cytokine, estradiol, and prolactin levels of 100 consecutive abdominal trauma patients admitted to an emergency unit were measured to determine if there is a gender based difference. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in trauma severity between male and female patients. Plasma interleukin-1beta levels were found to be significantly higher in male patients compared to females following trauma hemorrhage (p = 0.003). On the other hand, there was no significant difference in plasma interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-*, and prolactin levels between the male and female patients (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the role of sex steroids on immunomodulatory processes following trauma-hemorrhage should be further investigated before studies are undertaken to evaluate the effect of hormonal manipulation in patients with trauma (Tab. 1, Fig. 1, Ref. 26).