Background:
A dysregulated inflammatory response contributes to decline in patients with COVID-19. This cross-sectional study evaluated biomarkers of unvaccinated patients admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital in Fortaleza, Brazil.
Methods:
Twenty cytokines were quantified upon hospital admission; clinical and laboratory data were analyzed, as well as sociodemographic data, to search for an association with clinical outcomes, including fatal (n = 40) or recovered cases (n = 38).
Results:
Fatal cases exhibited significantly higher levels of IL-18 (p = 0.009); deceased patients were older (p = 0.0001), had a lower number of platelets (p = 0.0063) and higher neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (p = 0.0230) than those who recovered.
Conclusion:
These findings indicate that IL-18 is a possible marker to predict poor prognosis in critically ill patients with COVID-19.
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