Factors Associated with Mortality Among Severe Omicron Patients for COVID-19

Shuting Wu; Guichan Liao; Jingchun Mao; Haiming Yan; Juanjuan Chen; Jie Peng

doi:10.2147/IDR.S450504

Factors Associated with Mortality Among Severe Omicron Patients for COVID-19

Infect Drug Resist. 2024 Apr 3:17:1309-1319. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S450504. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Shuting Wu¹, Guichan Liao¹, Jingchun Mao¹, Haiming Yan¹, Juanjuan Chen¹, Jie Peng¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore the potential risk factors of mortality in patients with severe pneumonia during the omicron pandemic in South China in 2022.

Methods: Clinical data was collected from patients hospitalized with omicron COVID-19. Then, patients were categorized into the non-survival and survival groups. A comprehensive analysis was conducted to analyze the factors associated with negative outcome in individuals suffering from severe omicron COVID-19.

Results: In this study, 155 severe COVID-19 patients were included, comprising 55 non-survivors and 100 survivors. Non-survivors, in comparison to survivors, exhibited elevated levels of various biomarkers including neutrophil count, hypersensitive troponin T, urea, creatinine, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, interleukin-6, plasma D-dimer, and derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (dNLR) (P < 0.05). They also displayed reduced lymphocyte count, platelet count, and albumin levels (P < 0.05) and were more prone to developing comorbidities, including shock, acute cardiac and renal injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, coagulation disorders, and secondary infections. Platelet count (PLT) <100 × 10^/L, interleukin-6 (IL-6) >100 pg/mL, and dNLR >5.0 independently contributed to the risk of death in patients suffering from severe COVID-19.

Conclusion: PLT, IL-6, and dNRL independently contributed to the risk of mortality in patients with severe pneumonia during the 2022 omicron pandemic in South China.

Keywords: COVID-19; dNLR; omicron; risk factors; severe infection.

Grants and funding

Research for this study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFC2304800), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81572000), the Clinical Research Program of Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University (No. 2018CR026), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2023A1515030252), and the Municipal and University (Hospital) joint funding project of Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Bureau (No. 202201020253, 202201020250, and 2023A03J0796).