Ruiz-Álvarez MJ, Stampone E, Verduras YF, Gallo G, González MB, Cubillo BB, Bencivenga D, Della Ragione F, Borriello A. Hypocalcemia: a key biomarker in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Biomed J 2022;
46:93-99. [PMID:
36038109 PMCID:
PMC9420312 DOI:
10.1016/j.bj.2022.08.005]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Revised: 07/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
At the end of 2019 a new respiratory syndrome emerged in China named Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Considering the severity of the disease in adult subjects with one or more chronic pathologies, it was mandatory to find simple and effective biomarkers for negative prognosis of the disease easily available at the admission to the hospital.
Methods
To identify possible parameters showing association with the outcome in COVID-19 patients with pre-existing chronic diseases, blood biochemical profiles of 511 patients, enrolled from March to June 2020, were retrospectively evaluated. The pathological conditions taken into consideration were diabetes, arterial hypertension, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obesity, and cancer. All the data were collected upon admission to the emergency room (ER) during the indicated period.
Results
We observed that serum and ionized calcium were prevalently altered in our cohort. We determined that hypocalcemia was a major parameter associated with mechanical ventilation and poor prognosis, correlating also with the presence of comorbidities such as cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, and cancer. In addition, we found a positive correlation between hypocalcemia and clinical complications during hospitalizations.
Conclusions
Our results strengthen the relevance of serum calcium concentration as a useful prognostic biomarker in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
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