• Hui Li, Jun Zhang, Chen Fang, Xuming Zhao, Bin Qian, Yihui Sun, Yan Zhou, Ji Hu, Yun Huang, Qi Ma, and Jie Hui.
• Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2021 Mar 19; 100 (11): e23656.

AbstractInflammation has been believed to contribute to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Risk factors for death of COVID-19 pneumonia have not yet been well established.In this retrospective cohort study, we included the deceased patients in COVID-19 specialized ICU with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from Guanggu hospital area of Tongji Hospital from February 8th to March 30th. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and outcome data were extracted from electronic medical records using a standard data collection form. We used Spearman rank correlation and Cox regression analysis to explore the risk factors associated with in-hospital death, especially the association between inflammatory cytokines and death.A total of 205 severe/critical COVID-19 pneumonia patients were admitted in the COVID-19 specialized ICU and 75 deceased patients were included in the final analysis. The median age of the deceasing patients was 70 years (IQR 65-79). The common symptoms were fever (78.9%), cough (70.4%), and expectoration (39.4%). The BNP and CRP levels were far beyond the normal reference range. In the Spearman rank correlation analysis, IL-8 was found to be significantly associated with the time from onset to death (rs= -0.30, P = .034) and that from admission to death (rs= -0.32, P = .019). Cox regression showed after adjusting age and sex, IL-8 levels were still significantly associated with the time from onset to death (P = .003) and that from admission to death (P  = .01).IL-8 levels were associated with in-hospital death in severe/critical COVID-19 patients, which could help clinicians to identify patients with high risk of death at an early stage.Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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