Is There a Correlation Between Pulmonary Inflammation Index With COVID-19 Disease Severity and Outcome?

Abstract

Background: The radiologic pulmonary inflammatory index (PII) may be used as an early predictor of inflammation as laboratory assessments in COVID-19 cases. The purpose of this study was tocompare the clinical and radiological features between cases of COVID-19 necessitating admittance to the intensive care unit (ICU) and those who did not, and to correlate the PII with other inflammatory markers and outcomes. Patients and methods: 72 patients consecutively admitted with confirmed COVID-19. Their electronic records were retrospectively revised and the demographic, clinical, laboratory (complete blood count, C- reactive protein, D dimer, and serum ferritin), High resolution computed tomography (HRCT) data, PII, and the outcomes of the patients were analyzed. Results: They were 50/50%, males/females, with mean age 47.1 ± 16.8 years. During their stay, 15.3% necessitated ICU admittance, 68% cured and discharged, 9 cases referred and 6.9% died. The baseline lesions identified were ground-glass opacification recognized in (93%), higher PII and >3 lobes affection was considerably recorded in those who required ICU admittance (P= 0.041 and 0.013). There was a mild positive correlation between PII with age (r=0.264, P=0.031) and other prognostic inflammatory indicators as ferritin (r=0.225, P=0.048), D Dimer (r=0.271, P=0.043), and serum creatinine. Conclusions: The use of PII together with clinical and laboratory data may be valuable in defining the inflammatory state of COVID-19. This may allow clinicians to avoid the progression of the illness and improve the cure rates by proper early intervention.

Keywords

• covid-19; coronavirus disease; sars-cov-2; chest hrct; pulmonary inflammation index; ferritin; crp; severity; icu; outcomes