Relationship between c-reactive protein/albumin ratio and new-onset atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting

CAR, mGPS and hs-mGPS: What is among them the best gero-biomarker for age-related diseases? And for what clinical application?

The identification of biomarkers linked to the onset, progression, and prevention of age-related diseases (ARD), in the era of personalized medicine, represents the best goal of geroscience. Geroscience has the fundamental role of exploring and identifying the biological mechanisms of aging to suggest interventions capable of stopping/delaying the many pathological conditions and disabilities related to age. Therefore, it has become its key priority, as well as that of clinical practice and research, based on identifying and validating a range of biomarkers, geromarkers, which can be used to diagnostic, prognostic, or predictive clinical purposes. Indeed, geromarkers have, the potential to predict ARD trajectories and facilitate targeted interventions to slow down the related disabilities. Here our attention is paid to the inflammatory indexes (CAR, mGPS, hs-mGPS) linked to the relationship between the plasma levels of two inflammatory analytes, the typical positive protein of the acute phase, and the negative one, i.e. c-reactive protein (CRP) and albumin, respectively. These indexes allow us to understand the magnitude of the two main mechanisms predicted to influence the aging process, including inflammation and immunosenescence, as well as the degree of ARD severity. Evidence on their relationship with ARD is widely reported and discussed, to understand which can represent the best ARD geromarker, and its clinical application.

High levels of high-sensitivity C reactive protein to albumin ratio can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease

BACKGROUND

The high levels of C reactive protein (CRP) to albumin ratio (CAR) is thought to increase the risk of poor outcomes for cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the association between CAR and CVD in the Chinese community population has not been investigated.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between CAR and CVD in the Chinese community population.

METHODS

A total of 62 067 participants without a history of CVD or cancer were included in this study. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to calculate the cumulative incidence of endpoint events in CAR quartile groups, and the results were tested by log-rank test. Fine-Gray model was used to analyse the competing risk of death. C-index, Net Reclassification Index (NRI) and Integrated Discrimination Improvement Index (IDI) of different indicators were calculated to distinguish the predictive performance of different indicators.

RESULTS

During an average follow-up period of 10.3±2.1 years, 4025 participants developed CVD. In multivariable Cox regression analysis, compared with Q1 group, model 3 showed that the hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval (95%CI)) of CVD in Q4 group was 1.26 (1.15 to 1.38) (p<0.01), and the HR (95% CI) per 1 SD increase was 1.06 (1.03 to 1.08) (p<0.01). The C-index, continuous NRI and IDI for predicting 10-year CVD were 73.48%, 0.1366 (0.1049 to 0.1684) (p<0.01) and 0.0002 (0.0001 to 0.0004) (p<0.01), respectively, which were higher than those of hs-CRP (C-index:0.7344, NRI:0.0711, IDI: 0.0001) and albumin (C-index:0.7339, NRI: -0.0090, IDI: 0.0000).

CONCLUSION

High levels of CAR can increase the risk of CVD and the predictive performance of CAR for CVD is better than that of hs-CRP or albumin alone.

Association Between C-Reactive Protein and Albumin Ratios and Risk of Mortality in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Purpose

This study was to evaluate the association between C-reactive protein (CRP) to albumin (ALB) ratio (CAR) and the risk of mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods

In this retrospective cohort study, clinical data were extracted from the National Institutes of Health National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database between 2007 and 2010. Cox proportional hazard regressions were performed to assess the association between CAR and 5-year mortality in COPD patients. Subgroup analyses were applied to identify the consistency of the association based on the severity of COPD, gender, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and chronic kidney disease (CKD), and diabetes. The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the predictive performance of CAR.

Results

A total of 1210 COPD patients were included, of which 110 COPD patients (9.09%) had 5-year mortality. The mean follow-up was 57.76 (0.33) months. A higher CAR was associated with an increased risk of 5-year mortality in COPD patients [hazard ratio (HR): 1.94, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07 to 3.50, P =0.029)]. Subgroup analysis showed that the association between CAR and mortality was especially suitable for COPD patients with mild COPD, in COPD patients who were still smoking, in COPD patients with BMI <=29.9 kg/m2, in COPD patients who were without CVD, in COPD patients who were without diabetes, and COPD patients who were without CKD. The AUCs of CAR for predicting 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year mortality in COPD patients were 0.735, 0.615, and 0.608, respectively.

Conclusion

CAR is strongly correlated with mortality in patients with COPD and CAR could be served as a prognostic biomarker for patients with COPD. This study may provide a promising prognostic biomarker for risk stratification and clinical management of patients with COPD.

The Prognostic Value of Inflammatory Indices in Predicting Poor Postoperative Outcomes in Isolated Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to analyze the predictive effect of various inflammatory indices and inflammatory biomarkers on prognosis after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

METHODS

In this retrospective observational study, data were recorded from 99 patients who underwent isolated elective CABG between January 2019 and June 2021 and met the inclusion criteria. The patients were divided into two main groups according to the postoperative clinical results: "favorable outcome" and "poor outcome." Preoperative inflammatory parameters, inflammatory indices (such as systemic inflammation index (SII), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived NLR (dNLR)), and clinical variables were compared between the groups.

RESULTS

Poor postoperative outcomes developed in 31 (31.3%) patients. In the univariate analysis, white blood cell count (p=0.008), neutrophil count (p=0.002), SII (p=0.018), NLR (p=0.003), and dNLR (p=0.003) were found to be significant predictors for poor outcomes. In the multivariate analysis, only the presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (OR=8.765; 95% CI 1.308-58.702; p=0.025) and high creatinine levels (OR=1.049; 95% CI 1.005-1.094; p=0.027) were independent risk factors for poor outcomes. Optimal cut-off values were 603.08 (areas under the curve (AUC)=0.632, p=0.036) for SII, 2.34 (AUC=0.669, p=0.007) for NLR, and 1.76 (AUC=0.667, p=0.008) for dNLR.

CONCLUSION

SII, NLR, dNLR, and inflammatory markers, such as white blood cell and neutrophil counts, are feasible markers for predicting poor outcomes following CABG procedures. These parameters may aid in the development of early therapeutic interventions to improve patient outcomes.

C-Reactive Protein-to-Albumin Ratio and Clinical Outcomes in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio (CAR) is an independent risk factor in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and infectious diseases. Through this study, we investigated the CAR values with respect to the severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to retrieve studies that evaluated CAR values upon hospital admission in relation to the severity or mortality of COVID-19 patients. We adopted a random-effect model to calculate the pooled mean difference (MD) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). Quality assessment was appraised using a Newcastle−Ottawa scale and publication bias was assessed using the Begg-test and funnel plot. We equally performed a subgroup analysis using study location and a sensitivity analysis only with studies with low risk of bias. We analyzed 32 studies (n = 12445). Severe COVID-19 patients had higher on-admission CAR values than non-severe COVID-19 patients (MD: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.35−2.03; p < 0.001; I2 = 89%). Non-survivor patients with COVID-19 had higher CAR values than survivor patients (MD: 2.59; 95% CI: 1.95−3.23; p < 0.001; I2 = 92%). In sensitivity analysis, the relationship remained with a decreasing of heterogeneity for severity (MD: 1.22; 95% CI: 1.03−1.40; p < 0.001; I2 = 13%) and for mortality (MD: 2.99; 95% CI: 2.47−3.51; p < 0.001; I2 = 0%). High CAR values were found in COVID-19 patients who developed severe disease or died.

Relationship between CANLPH score and in-hospital mortality in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting

Aim: To evaluate the CANLPH score in in-hospital mortality after coronary artery bypass grafting. Materials & methods: The 999 patients were included in this retrospective cohort study. Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, C-reactive protein/albumin ratio and platelet/hemoglobin ratio were determined and the CANLPH score was calculated as the sum score of 0 or 1 by the cutoff in each ratio. Results: Twenty-five patients who reached the primary end point were defined as the mortality group and the remaining as the nonmortality group. The CANLPH score was noninferior to the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation II in receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis with difference between AUC: 0.0162, standard error (SE): 0.0394, z statistics: 0.682 and p = 0.494. Conclusion: The CANLPH score may be more appropriate in assessing the risk of in-hospital mortality after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Usefulness of C-reactive protein/albumin ratio as a predictor of new-onset atrial fibrillation in SARS-COV-2

Aim: To investigate whether C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR) has an association with new onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF) in SARS-CoV-2. Materials & methods: This study included 782 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, who were hospitalized in Turkey. The end point of the study was an occurrence of NOAF. Results: NOAF was identified in 41 patients (5.2%). Subjects who developed NOAF had a higher CAR compared with those who did not develop NOAF (p < 0.001). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis the CAR (odds ratio = 2.879; 95% CI: 1.063–7.793; p = 0.037) was an independent predictor of NOAF. Conclusion: A high level of CAR in blood samples is associated with an increased risk of developing NOAF in SARS-CoV-2.