Eosinopenia in COPD patients with severe acute respiratory virus 2 (Sars-CoV-2) infection as a potential fatal outcome predictor

Eosinophils contribute to innate antiviral immunity of the lung and eosinophilic blood count can be used as an early, effective and relevant biomarker predicting high disease severity in COPD patients with Sars-CoV-2 infection. Aim was to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic value of eosinopenia in Covid-19 positive COPD patients. Retrospective pilot study based on medical record review was performed on patients admitted for hospital treatment from the start of pandemic in March 2020 till end of January 2021. All patients had a positive PCR test at the moment of admission and COPD diagnose was confirmed from the medical record. Absolute eosinophile count was taken at the moment of admission. Study involved 23 COPD patients of which 43.48% were male with a median age of 82 (74-85) years. Total mortality was 43.48% with a 95% confidence interval between 23.19%-65.51%. Patients who died had significantly higher values of total leukocytes, C-reactive protein and procalcitonin compared to survivors, and lower values of eosinophils. Mean absolute eosinophile count in patients who died was 1.2±2.69, and in survivors 4.7±8.73 (d=0.54). The mean FEV1 value 55.1% (1.35 L) and FVC 72.08% (2.34 L) before Sars-CoV-2 infection. Allmost all subjects required oxygen therapy (95.65%), of which 17.39% high-flow nasal oxygen therapy and 8.7% invasive mechanical ventilation. The median duration of supportive respiratory therapy was 6 (4-12) days. A moderate effect size was obs...
Source: European Respiratory Journal - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Monitoring airway disease Source Type: research