ABSTRACT
Introduction: The CoLab-score was originally developed and validated to rule out COVID-19 in suspected patients presenting in the emergency department [1, 2]. The CoLab-score includes the patient's age and ten blood parameters, reflecting the host response to SARSCoV-2 infection. Here, we investigated the CoLab-score over time in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients at the ICU. We hypothesized that the CoLab-score will decrease over time, independent of survival, disease severity and pandemic periods. This would create the opportunity to monitor COVID-19 patients and potentially ruling out the need for isolation when the host response decreases and the infection is overcome. Method(s): We used serial data of the Maastricht Intensive Care Covid (MaastrICCht) cohort of mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients to investigate the association between time and daily CoLab-score using linear-mixed models. Crude models were adjusted for sex, APACHE II score, SOFA score, and stratified for intensive care mortality. Result(s): 324 patients (73% men), aged 64 +/- 12 years with 5959 daily CoLab-scores, were included. CoLab-score decreased with 0.31 points per day (95% CI -0.33 to -0.28). Adjustment for sex, APACHE II and stratification for mortality did not change this result. Conclusion(s): The CoLab-score decreased over time in mechanically ventilated ICU COVID-19 patients, with a point reduction per three days. This suggests that the CoLab-score eventually decreases to a normal state, reflecting a host response that has overcome infection. Future investigation is warranted to assess whether the need for isolation can be ruled out based on the CoLab-score.