Researchers are interested in not well understood systemic inflammation biomarker ? SAA. Currently only a small number of the studies investigated changes of SAA level during the stable phase of the disease in COPD patients.

Aim: to evaluate influence of tobacco-smoking intensification on SAA level in stable COPD patients (pts).

Materials and Methods: we evaluated 40 mild to severe COPD patients according to GOLD (age ? 64,1 ± 1,12 yrs, male ? 37 (85,4%)), FEV1 was 47,3 (41,5; 62,4)% pred. All pts were smokers or ex-smokers, index ?pack/year? was 35,0 (20,0; 40,0). The control group consists of 10 healthy subjects. Measurements included clinical status, spirometry and SAA levels.

Results: we found that plasma SAA levels were significantly elevated in COPD pts compared with healthy controls 472,7 (309,3;923,8) ng/ml in contrast to 182,5 (175,4; 376,2] ng/ml (p = 0,018). Increased SAA level correlated with pack/year index (r = 0,432, p = 0,007). It indicates the effect of cigarette smoking duration on the SAA level (figure 1).

Conclusions: we found that in stable COPD pts SAA level was elevated. SAA level, according to our study, was depended on duration of cigarette smoking.