COVID-19 Clinical Care: Researchers Identify Five Blood Biomarkers Linked To Higher Risk Of Clinical Deterioration And Death In COVID-19 Patients
Source: COVID-19 Clinical Care Aug 07, 2020 4 years, 3 months, 2 weeks, 8 hours, 55 minutes ago
COVID-19 Clinical Care: Medical researchers from George Washington University (GW) have identified five blood biomarkers that are associated with higher odds of clinical deterioration and death in COVID-19 patients.
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The research findings were published in the journal
Future Medicine, with the hope that these findings will help physicians better predict outcomes for COVID-19 patients in the U.S. and elsewhere.
https://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/10.2217/bmm-2020-0309
Dr Juan Reyes, MD, co-author of the study and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences told Thailand Medical News, “When we first started treating COVID-19 patients, we watched them get better or get worse, but we did not know why. Some initial studies had come out of China showing certain biomarkers were associated with bad outcomes. There was a desire to see if that was true for our patients here in the U.S."
The study team evaluated 299 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 admitted to George Washington Hospital between March 12 and May 9, 2020. Of these patients, 200 had all
five biomarkers being evaluated - IL-6, D-dimer, CRP, LDH and ferritin.
It was observed that elevated levels of these biomarkers were associated with inflammation and bleeding disorder, showing an independent increased risk for ICU admission, invasive ventilatory support, and death. The highest odds of death occurred when the LDH level was greater than 1200 units/l and a D-dimer level was greater than 3 μg/ml.
Dr Shant Ayanian, MD, first author of the study and assistant professor of medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences commented, "We hope these biomarkers help physicians determine how aggressively they need to treat patients, whether a patient should be discharged, and how to monitor patients who are going home, among other clinical decisions."
At the moment doctors determine risk for COVID-19 deterioration and death based on age and certain underlying medical conditions, like having an immunocompromised state, obesity, and heart disease.
Performing a simple blood test for patients admitted to the emergency department, then also making decisions based on biomarkers present, may further aid point-of-care clinical decision making.
Dr Reyes, Dr Ayanian, and the George Washington research team will continue to analyze this data to help physicians make more informed decisions for patients, as well as help hospitals that may need to stratify resources.
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