EXPRESS: Effect of trauma on the concentration of selected feline acute-phase proteins

Objectives: To evaluate selected acute phase proteins (APPs) in 61 cats (mainly stray, domestic shorthair aged 2 months to 17 years, 39 males and 22 females) presented with acute trauma at the university teaching hospital of XXX. Methods: Serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin (Hp), ceruloplasmin (Cp) and albumin were compared to APPs in a population of healthy cats with similar demographic data and in cats with trauma considering demographic data, trauma type and localization (craniofacial and/or vertebral and/or appendicular, thoracic, abdominal and localized, multiple or polytrauma), anti-inflammatory treatment, outcome (survival to discharge or death). APPs were correlated to age, rectal temperature, body-weight, total leukocyte, neutrophil, band neutrophil and lymphocyte count, total protein, albumin/globulin ratio, base excess and hospitalization duration. Results: In cats with acute trauma, SAA and Hp median concentrations were significantly higher than in healthy control cats (90.5 versus 0.6 mg/mL and 130.7 versus 58.8 mg/dL, respectively, P<0.0001) and showed, respectively, a median 150-fold increase and 2.2-fold increase with respect to healthy cats. Albumin was significantly lower in cats with trauma compared to healthy cats (3.4 versus 3.8 g/dL, respectively, P<0.0001) and in cats with vertebral trauma compared to cats with other trauma localizations. SAA showed a significantly positive correlation with length of hospitalization (r=0.488, P=0.0003) in 50 surviving cats, while albumin showed a significantly negative correlation (r=-0.426, P=0.0020) in addition to a negative correlation with band neutrophils (r=-0.329, P=0.0097). In 15 cats with trauma in which APPs were also evaluated at discharge, SAA was significantly lower than at admission. Conclusion and relevance: Acute trauma in cats is associated with significant increases in SAA and Hp and decreases in albumin. Testing SAA and albumin in cats with acute trauma may provide a useful prognostic indicator of length of hospitalization, but no evaluated APPs are of prognostic value for survival.