ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the predictive value of the serum C-reactive protein (CRP)/albumin (ALB) ratio (CAR) for organ damage in tsutsugamushi disease.Methods:The clinical data of 166 patients with tsutsugamushi disease admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into the organ damage group (72 cases) and non-organ damage group (94 cases) according to the organ damage criteria. The general data and laboratory test results of the two groups of patients were compared. The significant indicators of univariate analysis were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) were used to analyze the predictive value of CAR for organ damage in patients with tsutsugamushi disease.Results:There were no significant differences in age, sex, days of fever, and admission body temperature between the organ damage group and non-organ damage group ( P>0.05). However, the body mass index, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA), length of hospital stay, hospitalization expense, percentage of neutrophils (NEUT), lymphocyte count, procalcitonin, CRP, and CAR in the organ damage group were significantly higher than those in the non-organ damage group ( P<0.05), and ALB was significantly lower than that in the non-organ damage group ( P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that APACHEⅡ( P=0.039), NEUT ( P=0.003), and CAR ( P=0.011) were independent risk factors for tsutsugamushi disease complicated by organ damage. The ROC curve showed that the AUCs of APACHEⅡ, NEUT, and CAR were 0.655, 0.716, and 0.727, respectively. When the cut-off value of CAR was 2.86, the sensitivity was 55.6%, and the specificity was 79.8%. Conclusions:Elevated CAR is an independent risk factor for tsutsugamushi disease complicated with organ damage and can be used as an important indicator to evaluate the presence or absence of organ damage in patients with tsutsugamushi disease.