Lactate dehydrogenase and C-reactive protein as predictors of respiratory failure in CoVID-19 patients

• Published in: Clinica chimica acta 2020-10, Vol.509, p.135-138
• Main Authors: Poggiali, Erika, Zaino, Domenica, Immovilli, Paolo, Rovero, Luca, Losi, Giulia, Dacrema, Alessandro, Nuccetelli, Marzia, Vadacca, Giovanni Battista, Guidetti, Donata, Vercelli, Andrea, Magnacavallo, Andrea, Bernardini, Sergio, Terracciano, Chiara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute respiratory failure; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Betacoronavirus; Biomarkers - blood; C-Reactive Protein - metabolism; Clinical Laboratory Techniques - methods; Clinical Laboratory Techniques - trends; Coronavirus Infections - blood; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; COVID-19; CoVID-19 pneumonia; CRP; Female; Humans; Italian epidemic; Italy - epidemiology; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase - blood; LDH; Male; Middle Aged; Pandemics; Patient Admission - trends; Pneumonia, Viral - blood; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Predictive Value of Tests; Respiratory Insufficiency - blood; Respiratory Insufficiency - diagnosis; Respiratory Insufficiency - epidemiology; Retrospective Studies; SARS-CoV-2; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0009-8981; 1873-3492
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cca.2020.06.012

•COVID19 patients can develop severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).•ARDS is a fatal complication and the most common cause of death in COVID19 patients.•Early detection of acute respiratory failure is mandatory to promplty identify critically ill COVID19 patients.•Elevated LDH and CRP serum concentrations are associated to respiratory failure in CoVID-19 patients. The dramatic worldwide CoVID-19 infection requires the identification of a reliable and inexpensive tool to quickly discriminate patients with a more unfavorable outcome. We performed routine laboratory tests suitable to identify tissue damage and inflammatory status in 123 consecutive CoVID-19 patients admitted to the Emergency Department of the hospital of Piacenza (Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy). The results were correlated with patients’ respiratory function evaluated by the partial pressure of arterial oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen ratio (PaO2/FiO2). The most common laboratory abnormalities were lymphocytopenia and elevated values of C-reactive protein (CRP) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and creatine kinase (CK) were also increased. The respiratory performance (PaO2/FiO2) showed a strong inverse correlation with LDH (r = 0.62, r2 0.38, p value