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WEDNESDAY, July 1, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
A blood test may predict which COVID-19<\/a> patients are likely to need a ventilator.<\/p>\n This finding could lead to a scoring system that would flag at-risk patients for closer monitoring and to personalized treatments. It may also help explain how diabetes<\/a> makes outcomes worse, according to researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine.<\/p>\n The study focused on 57 COVID-19<\/a> patients who needed a ventilator to breathe. Researchers compared samples of their blood to that from patients who did not need a ventilator.<\/p>\n They found that blood levels of a certain cytokine are predictive of the course of COVID-19<\/a>. Cytokines are proteins that are central to the immune system overreaction known as a cytokine storm. This overactive immune response is a hallmark of COVID-19<\/a> and some other illnesses.<\/p>\n “The immune response that we discovered to predict severe shortness of breath<\/a> in COVID-19<\/a> is known in other pulmonary diseases to cause damage,” said researcher Dr. Bill Petri, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health at UVA in Charlottesville.<\/p>\n “So this could lead to a novel way to prevent respiratory failure in individuals infected with the new coronavirus, by inhibiting this immune cytokine,” he said in a university news release.<\/p>\n Petri said his team plans to test this in a model before considering a clinical trial.<\/p>\n Researchers also found higher levels of two cytokines in patients with high blood sugar<\/a>. They said this may explain why diabetes<\/a> is linked with worse COVID-19<\/a> outcomes.<\/p>\n Though researchers linked two other cytokines to severe infection, they were less reliable predictors of the need for a ventilator.<\/p>\n According to Petri, the finding on cytokines sheds light on how the immune system reacts to coronavirus infection and may help doctors to develop immune therapy for COVID-19.<\/p>\n Researchers shared their findings June 28 on the website medRxiv.org. The study has not been peer-reviewed and should be considered preliminary.<\/p>\n — Steven Reinberg<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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