ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the relationship between serum bilirubin levels of elderly heart failure patients and type, clinical symptom and prognosis of the heart failure. To explore the pathophysiological role of heme oxygenase 1/CO bilirubin system in the pathogenesis of the heart failure. Methods Serum total bilirubin and direct bilirubin and indrect bilirubin levels of 57 inpatients admitted to our depatment because of heart failure from April 1998 to June 2000 were examined in the second day, first and second week after admission, respectively. Results (1) Compared with the recovery stage of the heart failure, the serum total bilirubin levels during the heart failure attack increased by 52 9% and 78 9%, respectively than the first and second week after the attack(26 1 ?mol/L vs 17 4 ?mol/L and 14 6 ?mol/L, P