Introduction: A hyperinflammatory environment has been a hallmark of COVID-19 infection and is thought to be a key mediator of morbidity. Elevated ferritin has been observed in many patients with COVID-19. Several retrospective studies have shown ferritin levels can be correlated and predictive of poor outcomes in COVID-19, though a rigorous analysis has been lacking. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 942 adult COVID-19 patients admitted in March 2020 at a large New York City health system with available ferritin levels.
There are unresolved questions regarding the association between persistent leukocytosis and risk of thrombosis and disease evolution in polycythemia vera (PV), as much of the published literature on the topic does not appropriately use repeated-measures data or time-dependent modeling to answer these questions. To address this knowledge gap, we analyzed a retrospective database of 520 PV patients seen at 10 academic institutions across the United States. Taking hematologic laboratory data at ∼3-month intervals (or as available) for all patients for duration of follow-up, we used group-based trajectory modeling to identify latent clusters of patients who follow distinct trajectories with regard to their leukocyte, hematocrit, and platelet counts over time. We then tested the association between trajectory membership and hazard of 2 major outcomes: thrombosis and disease evolution to myelofibrosis, myelodysplastic syndrome, or acute myeloid leukemia. Controlling for relevant covariates, we found that persistently elevated leukocyte trajectories were not associated with the hazard of a thrombotic event (P = .4163), but were significantly associated with increased hazard of disease evolution in an ascending stepwise manner (overall P = .0002). In addition, we found that neither hematocrit nor platelet count was significantly associated with the hazard of thrombosis or disease evolution.
Background
The standard diagnostic criteria for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) include hyperferritinemia to >500 ng/mL. This ferritin threshold is based on pediatric data, and evidence for its application among adults with secondary HLH is lacking.
Objective and Methods
We conducted a retrospective study assessing the relationship between extreme hyperferritinemia and adult secondary HLH at our institution. All adult inpatients seen over a 10‐year period, with serum ferritin >5000 ng/mL, were included.
Results
Among 1055 patients with serum ferritin >5000 ng/mL, there were 69 cases of HLH (HLH prevalence of 6.5%). Mean ferritin among HLH patients was 70 398 ng/mL (SD 122 908), median 40 019 ng/mL (IQR 16 051‐68 326). The prevalence of HLH only reached 50% as serum ferritin approached 90 000 ng/mL. A variety of conditions were contributory to hyperferritinemia, most commonly bacterial sepsis (33%), hematologic malignancy (29%), renal failure (24%), and liver injury (18%). The optimal cutoff ferritin for diagnosis of HLH was 16 000 ng/mL (sensitivity 79.4%, specificity 79.2%, PPV 20.9%, and NPV 98.2%).
Conclusions
The threshold ferritin levels used in diagnostic criteria for adult secondary HLH are too low to be clinically relevant, and efforts should be undertaken to revise them upward. Similar reappraisals should be taken of the other criteria used to diagnose adult HLH.
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