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  • Coronary artery calcificati...
    Fervers, Philipp; Kottlors, Jonathan; Große Hokamp, Nils; Bremm, Johannes; Maintz, David; Tritt, Stephanie; Safarov, Orkhan; Persigehl, Thorsten; Vollmar, Nils; Bansmann, Paul Martin; Abdullayev, Nuran

    PloS one, 07/2021, Letnik: 16, Številka: 7
    Journal Article

    Purpose Cardiovascular comorbidity anticipates severe progression of COVID-19 and becomes evident by coronary artery calcification (CAC) on low-dose chest computed tomography (LDCT). The purpose of this study was to predict a patient's obligation of intensive care treatment by evaluating the coronary calcium burden on the initial diagnostic LDCT. Methods Eighty-nine consecutive patients with parallel LDCT and positive RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 were included from three centers. The primary endpoint was admission to ICU, tracheal intubation, or death in the 22-day follow-up period. CAC burden was represented by the Agatston score. Multivariate logistic regression was modeled for prediction of the primary endpoint by the independent variables "Agatston score > 0", as well as the CT lung involvement score, patient sex, age, clinical predictors of severe COVID-19 progression (history of hypertension, diabetes, prior cardiovascular event, active smoking, or hyperlipidemia), and laboratory parameters (creatinine, C-reactive protein, leucocyte, as well as thrombocyte counts, relative lymphocyte count, d-dimer, and lactate dehydrogenase levels). Results After excluding multicollinearity, "Agatston score >0" was an independent regressor within multivariate analysis for prediction of the primary endpoint (p<0.01). Further independent regressors were creatinine (p = 0.02) and leucocyte count (p = 0.04). The Agatston score was significantly higher for COVID-19 cases which completed the primary endpoint (64.2 interquartile range 1.7-409.4 vs. 0 interquartile range 0-0). Conclusion CAC scoring on LDCT might help to predict future obligation of intensive care treatment at the day of patient admission to the hospital.