IL-6 and D-Dimer at Admission Predicts Cardiac Injury and Early Mortality during SARS-CoV-2 Infection

BACKGROUNDWe recently described mortality of cardiac injury in COVID-19 patients. Admission activation of immune, thrombotic biomarkers and their ability to predict cardiacinjury and mortality patterns in COVID-19 is unknown. METHODSThis retrospective cohort study included 170 COVID-19 patients with cardiac injury at admission to Tongji Hospital in Wuhan from January 29-March 8, 2020. Temporal evolution of inflammatory cytokines, coagulation markers, clinical, treatment and mortality were analyzed. RESULTSOf 170 patients, 60 (35.3%) died early (<21d) and 61 (35.9%) died after prolonged stay. Admission lab work that correlated with early death were elevate levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6) (p<0.0001), Tumor Necrosis Factor-a (TNF-a) (p=0.0025), and C-reactive protein (CRP) (p<0.0001). We observed the trajectory of biomarker changes after admission, and determined that early mortality had a rapidly increasing D-dimer, gradually decreasing platelet and lymphocyte counts. Multivariate and simple linear regression models showed that death risk was determined by immune and thrombotic pathway activation. Increasing cTnI levels were associated with those of increasing IL-6 (p=0.03) and D-dimer (p=0.0021). Exploratory analyses suggested that patients that received heparin has lower early mortality compared to those who did not (p =0.07), despite similar risk profile. CONCLUSIONSIn COVID-19 patients with cardiac injury, admission IL-6 and D-dimer predicted subsequent elevation of cTnI and early death, highlighting the need for early inflammatory cytokine-based risk stratification in patients with cardiac injury. Condensed AbstractCOVID-19 with cardiac injury is associated with worse survival. Admission activation of immune, thrombotic biomarkers and their ability to predict cardiac injury and mortality patterns in COVID-19 is unknown. This study proved that cardiac injury in these patients is closely related to the activation of immunological and thrombotic pathways and can be predicted by admission biomarkers of these pathways. This study supports the strategy of biomarker-guided, point-of-care therapy that warrants further studies in a randomized manner to develop anti-immune and anti-thrombotic treatment regimens in severe COVID-19 patients with cardiac injury.

A confused ECG with multiple rhythms caused by atrial premature contractions: A case report.

INTRODUCTION: Atrial premature contractions (APCs) are commonly encountered in clinical practice. The APCs may influence heart conduction system and induce other arrhythmia. The disorder of atrioventricular conduction is related to electrophysiological phenomena, difficult to understand and diagnose. CASE REPORT: We presented a 15-year-old male patient whose baseline electrocardiogram (ECG) was confused with multiple rhythms. Electrophysiological study results showed sinus rhythm with nonconducted APCs in bigeminal rhythm. Nonconducted APCs were blocked without H wave. Some APCs conducted to ventricle with longer AH interval and HV interval. When APCs were abolished by radiofrequency ablation, this patient was free from any arrhythmia during follow-up. CONCLUSION: We considered that the basic rhythm of the baseline ECG was sinus rhythm with atrial bigeminy rhythm and narrow QRS extrasystoles (junctional); some APCs were blocked and some APCs conducted to ventricle with aberrant QRS complexes. The phenomenon of baseline ECG was caused by the APCs.

Application of fingertip photoplethysmogram assessment of endothelial function in screening coronary heart disease patients / 吉林大学学报(医学版)

Objective:To investigate the application of photoplethysmogram in analyzing the fingertip pulse amplitude volume (PAV)to evaluate the endothelial function in diagnosing coronary heart disease,and to clarify its relationship with the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases.Methods:Total 409 patients with chest pain accepted coronary angiography (CAG)were selected and diveded into positive group (CAG+)(n=288)and negative group (CAG-) (n = 121)according to angiographic results.Fingertip photoplethysmogram was used to analyze the fingertip PAV by the way of applying endothelial function diagnostic after reactive ischemia,and the relationship between the PAV value and the risk factors of coronary heart diseases was analyzed,and the critical reference value of prediction index of coronary heart disease was determined.The risk factors such as age,gender,serum total cholesterol (TC ), low density lipoprotein (LDL ), high density lipoprotein (HDL ), non-HDL, serum triglyceride (TG),hypertension,diabetes,smoking,family history of coronary heart disease,body mass index (BMI)of the subjects in various groups were analyzed,and the relationship between the risk factors of coronary heart disease and PAV was analyzed by Logistic regression analysis.Results:The PAV of patients in CAG+group was significantly lower than that in CAG-group (P <0.01).The peak point of PAV was<1.37,if PAV<1.37 was used to predict the coronary heart disease,the predictive sensitivity,the specificity,the positive prediction and the negative prediction were 74.65%,44.63%, 76.24%, and 42.52%.The Logistic regression analysis showed that PAV was negatively associated with hypertension,smoking history,TG (OR= 1.476,OR=2.002, OR = 1.844;P < 0.01 ). Conclusion: PAV is associated with coronary heart disease and its risk factors (hypertension,smoking history,TG),and PAV=1.37 can be used as the peak point to predict the coronary heart disease.