Correlation Analysis Between Disease Severity and Inflammation-related Parameters in Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia

Abstract

Abstract Aim The new coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia outbreaking at the end of 2019 is highly contagious. Crude mortality rate reached 49% in critical patients. Inflammation matters on disease progression. This study analyzed blood inflammation indicators among mild, severe and critical patients, helping to identify severe or critical patients early. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 100 patients were included and divided to mild, severe or critical groups. Correlation of peripheral blood inflammation-related indicators with disease criticality was analyzed. Cut-off values for critically ill patients were speculated through the ROC curve. Results Significantly, disease severity was associated with age (R=-0.564, P<0.001), interleukin-2 receptor (IL2R) (R=-0.534, P<0.001), interleukin-6 (IL-6) (R=-0.535, P<0.001), interleukin-8 (IL-8) (R=-0.308, P<0.001), interleukin-10 (IL-10) (R=-0.422, P<0.001), tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) (R=-0.322, P<0.001), C-reactive protein (CRP) (R=-0.604, P<0.001), ferroprotein (R=-0.508, P<0.001), procalcitonin (R=-0.650, P<0.001), white cell counts (WBC) (R=-0.54, P<0.001), lymphocyte counts (LC) (R=0.56, P<0.001), neutrophil count (NC) (R=-0.585, P<0.001) and eosinophil counts (EC) (R=0.299, P=0.01). Conclusion With following parameters such as age >67.5 years, IL2R >793.5U/mL, CRP >30.7ng/mL, ferroprotein >2252μg/L, WBC>9.5*10^9/L or NC >7.305*10^9/L, the progress of COVID-19 to critical stage should be closely observed and possibly prevented. Inflammation is closely related to severity of COVID-19, and IL-6, TNFα and IL-8 might be promising therapeutic targets.