Association of ischemia modified albumin with mortality in qSOFA positive sepsis patients by sepsis-3 in the emergency department

Evaluating the diagnostic and prognostic ability of ischemia modified albumin in COVID-19

BACKGROUND

Patients with COVID-19 can rapidly deteriorate and develop acute hypoxic respiratory failure. Prominent features of the disease include severe inflammation, endotheliitis, and thrombosis.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic effectiveness of ischemia modified albumin (ΙΜΑ) in a cohort of COVID-19 patients.

METHODS

This prospective observational study included adults with SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test, who were hospitalized specifically for COVID-19. The outcomes of interest were progression to severe acute respiratory failure during the index hospitalization defined as partial pressure of oxygen/fraction of inspired oxygen lower or equal to 150, admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and in-hospital mortality. Admission IMA levels were determined using the commercially available "IMA Assay Kit" method (Abbexa LTD, Cambridge, UK). Adults without SARS-CoV-2 infection were used as controls.

RESULTS

135 COVID-19 patients and 64 controls were included. Admission IMA levels were significantly higher in COVID-19 patients compared to controls [[24.38 (11.94) ng/ml vs. 14.69 (3.52) ng/ml, p < 0.01]. Receiver operating characteristic analysis of admission IMA showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 94% (p < 0.0001) for COVID-19 diagnosis (cut-off value: 17.5 ng/ml; sensitivity: 90.37%; specificity: 87.5%). Admission IMA was also associated with mortality (AUC: 68%, p = 0.01). However, it was not associated with severe acute respiratory failure (AUC: 47%, p = 0.53) or ICU admission (AUC: 58%, p = 0.41).

CONCLUSION

Admission IMA was significantly increased in COVID-19 patients and was associated with in-hospital mortality.

The correlation study between blood urea nitrogen to serum albumin ratio and prognosis of patients with sepsis during hospitalization

BACKGROUND

Sepsis is a common critical illness in intensive care unit (ICU) and seriously threatens the life of patients. Therefore, to identify a simple and effective clinical indicator to determine prognosis is essential for the management of sepsis patients. This study was mainly based on blood urea nitrogen to albumin ratio (B/A), a comprehensive index, to explore its correlation with the prognosis of sepsis patients during hospitalization.

METHODS

Totally, adult patients in ICU who were diagnosed with sepsis in Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV(MIMIC-IV) database from 2008 to 2019 were involved in this study. The study population were divided into survivors group and non-survivors group based on the prognosis during hospitalization. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) was utilized to analyze the association between B/A level and the risk of ICU all-cause mortality in patients with sepsis and determine the optimal cut-off value of B/A. The study population was divided into low B/A group and high B/A group based on the optimal cut-off value. The survival curve of ICU cumulative survival rate was draw through Kaplan-Meier method. The correlation between B/A and the prognosis of patients was conducted by multivariate Cox regression analysis. Furthermore, we performed sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of the results.

RESULTS

A total of 10,578 patients with sepsis were enrolled, and the ICU all-cause mortality was 15.89%. The patients in the non-survivors group had higher B/A values and more comorbidities than those in the survivors group. RCS showed that the risk of ICU all-cause mortality increased with the B/A level, showing a non-linear trend (χ2 = 66.82, p < 0.001). The mortality rate in the high B/A group was significantly higher than that in the low B/A group (p < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier curves revealed that compared with the low B/A group, the ICU cumulative survival rate of patients with sepsis was significantly lower in the high B/A group (log-rank test, χ2 = 148.620, p < 0.001). Further analysis of multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression showed that an elevated B/A (≥ 7.93) was an independent factor associated with ICU mortality among patients with sepsis.

CONCLUSIONS

An elevated B/A might be a useful prognostic indicator in patients with sepsis. This study could offer a deeper insight into treating sepsis.

Association of ROX Index with Mechanical Ventilator Use in Sepsis Patients in the Emergency Department

Detecting sepsis patients who are at a high-risk of mechanical ventilation is important in emergency departments (ED). The respiratory rate oxygenation (ROX) index is the ratio of tissue oxygen saturation/fraction of inspired oxygen to the respiratory rate. This study aimed to investigate whether the ROX index could predict mechanical ventilator use in sepsis patients in an ED. This retrospective observational study included quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) ≥ 2 sepsis patients that presented to the ED between September 2019 and April 2020. The ROX and ROX-heart rate (HR) indices were significantly lower in patients with mechanical ventilator use within 24 h than in those without the use of a mechanical ventilator (4.0 [3.2–5.4] vs. 10.0 [5.9–15.2], p < 0.001 and 3.9 [2.7–5.8] vs. 10.1 [5.4–16.3], p < 0.001, respectively). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the ROX and ROX-HR indices were 0.854 and 0.816 (both p < 0.001). The ROX and ROX-HR indices were independently associated with mechanical ventilator use within 24 h (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.68–0.90, p < 0.001 and adjusted hazard ratio = 0.87, 95% CI 0.79–0.96, p = 0.004, respectively). The 28-day mortality was higher in the low ROX and low ROX-HR groups. The ROX and ROX-HR indices were associated with mechanical ventilator use within 24 h in qSOFA ≥ 2 patients in the ED.

An evaluation of ischaemia-modified albumin levels in the development of diabetic foot ulcer

INTRODUCTION

This study investigated the status of serum ischaemia-modified albumin (IMA) levels in the development of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and in predicting ulcer formation and ulcer grading.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

Thirty patients with DM, 30 with DFU and 30 healthy controls were included in the study. All participants' demographic characteristics and serum IMA, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and white blood cell (WBC) levels and DFU infection grades were recorded.

RESULTS

Nine (30%) patients with DFU were grade 2 according to the grading of International Working Group of the Diabetic Foot, 14 (46.7%) were grade 3 and seven (23.3%) were grade 4. Significant, powerful and positive correlation was determined between serum IMA and albumin-adjusted IMA levels and degrees of DFU (r = 0.878 and r = 0.846, P < .001 for both). Serum IMA levels in the DFU group were significantly higher than in the DM and control groups (P < .001). The optimal cut-off values for IMA in predicting DFU was 23.5 ng/mL (sensitivity 96%, specificity 87% and AUC = 0.97, P < .001). Additionally, at a cut-off value of 20.6 ng/mL, serum albumin-adjusted IMA differentiated cases of DFU from healthy individuals with 90% sensitivity and 83% specificity (AUC = 0.95, P < .001) Serum IMA levels exhibited significant, positive correlation with CRP, ESR, WBC, fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c (r = 0.575, r = 0.592, r = 0.597, r = 0.68 and r = 0.74, respectively, P < .001). Serum albumin levels were significantly negatively correlated with IMA, CRP, ESR and WBC values (r = -0.49, r = -0.56, r = -0.62 and r = -0.53, respectively, P < .001).

CONCLUSION

Our study findings indicate that together with CRP, ESH, WBC and albumin, increased IMA levels in patients with DM can be useful in the early prevention of DFU development and in predicting the severity of DFU infection.