• Li-Da Chen, Zhen-Yu Zhang, Xiao-Jie Wei, Yu-Qing Cai, Weng-Zhen Yao, Ming-Hui Wang, Qiu-Fen Huang, and Xiao-Bin Zhang.
• Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Zhangzhou Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, China.
• Resp Res. 2020 Jul 29; 21 (1): 201.

BackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new respiratory and systemic disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between cytokine profiles and lung injury in COVID-19 pneumonia.MethodsThis retrospective study was conducted in COVID-19 patients. Demographic characteristics, symptoms, signs, underlying diseases, and laboratory data were collected. The patients were divided into COVID-19 with pneumonia and without pneumonia. CT severity score and PaO2/FiO2 ratio were used to assess lung injury.Results106 patients with 12 COVID-19 without pneumonia and 94 COVID-19 with pneumonia were included. Compared with COVID-19 without pneumonia, COVID-19 with pneumonia had significantly higher serum interleukin (IL)-2R, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. Correlation analysis showed that CT severity score and PaO2/FiO2 were significantly correlated with age, presence of any coexisting disorder, lymphocyte count, procalcitonin, IL-2R, and IL-6. In multivariate analysis, log IL6 was the only independent explanatory variables for CT severity score (β = 0.397, p < 0.001) and PaO2/FiO2 (β = - 0.434, p = 0.003).ConclusionsElevation of circulating cytokines was significantly associated with presence of pneumonia in COVID-19 and the severity of lung injury in COVID-19 pneumonia. Circulating IL-6 independently predicted the severity of lung injury in COVID-19 pneumonia.

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