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Relationship between release of beta-endorphin, cortisol, and trauma severity in children with blunt torso and

Hamit Okur1, Mustafa Küçükaydn, Bülent Hayri Ozokutan

  • 1Department of Paediatric Surgery, Erciyes University School of Medicine, Kayseri, Turkey. okurh@erciyes.edu.tr

The Journal of Trauma
|February 14, 2007
PubMed

Insights

In children with multiple injuries, plasma beta-endorphin and cortisol levels increase with injury severity. Higher levels indicate more severe blunt trauma, correlating with the Pediatric Trauma Score (PTS).

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Surgery
  • Trauma Medicine
  • Endocrinology

Background:

  • Blunt trauma in children can trigger significant physiological stress responses.
  • Understanding hormonal markers like beta-endorphin and cortisol is crucial for assessing trauma severity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To measure beta-endorphin and cortisol levels in pediatric trauma patients.
  • To correlate these hormone levels with injury severity using the Pediatric Trauma Score (PTS).

Main Methods:

  • Studied 80 children with multiple injuries over 10 months.
  • Measured plasma beta-endorphin and cortisol at admission, alongside calculating the Pediatric Trauma Score (PTS).
  • Compared hormone levels between groups with PTS >8 and PTS ≤8.

Main Results:

  • A linear correlation was found between beta-endorphin/cortisol levels and injury severity.
  • Patients with more severe injuries (lower PTS) exhibited higher hormone levels.
  • Significantly higher beta-endorphin (p < 0.001) and cortisol (p < 0.05) levels were observed in the more severely injured group.

Conclusions:

  • Plasma beta-endorphin and cortisol levels are elevated in children following blunt trauma.
  • The degree of elevation in these hormones is directly related to the severity of the injury.
Abstract

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