Clinical value of immune-inflammatory parameters to assess the severity of coronavirus disease 2019

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.04.041Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • • Clinical characteristics and immune-inflammatory parameters were compared between non-severe and severe patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

  • • High level of interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP) and hypertension were independent predictors for the severity of COVID-19.

  • • IL-6 has the highest predictive value among other single immune-inflammatory parameters. The risk model based on IL-6, CRP and hypertension enlarged the predictability.

  • • The dynamic change of IL-6 in the severe cases were parallel to the amelioration of this disease, implied a potential value for monitoring the process of severe cases.

Abstract

Objective

To explore the clinical value of immune-inflammatory markers to assess the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods

127 consecutive hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled in this study, and classified into non-severe and severe groups. Demographics, symptoms, underlying diseases and laboratory data were collected and assessed for predictive value.

Results

Of 127 COVID-19 patients, 16 cases (12.60%) were classified into the severe group. High level of interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reaction protein (CRP) and hypertension were independent risk factors for the severity of COVID-19. The risk model based on IL-6, CRP and hypertension had the highest area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROC). Additionally, the baseline IL-6 was positively correlated with other immune-inflammatory parameters and the dynamic change of IL-6 in the severe cases were parallel to the amelioration of the disease.

Conclusion

Our study showed that high level of IL-6, CRP and hypertension were independent risk factors for assessing the severity of COVID-19. The risk model established upon IL-6, CRP and hypertension had the highest predictability in this study. Besides, IL-6 played a pivotal role in the severity of COVID-19 and had a potential value for monitoring the process of severe cases.

Keywords

COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
Immune-inflammatory parameters
Cytokine storm
IL-6

Cited by (0)

1

Contributed equally.