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

• Main Authors: Zhe Zhu, Ting Cai, Lingyan Fan, Kehong Lou, Xin Hua, Zuoan Huang, Guosheng Gao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-06-01
• Series: International Journal of Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Immune-inflammatory parameters; Cytokine storm; IL-6
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971220302575

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.