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- Researchers have designed a coronavirus score based on blood test results for two molecules that can predict severe cases of COVID-19.
- The scientists explain that a more informed prognosis would allow them to tailor treatments accordingly and potentially save many more lives.
- The Dublin-Boston score is a relationship between two cytokines, IL-6 and IL-10. Every 1 point increase in the score has been associated with an increased likelihood of severe COVID-19.
The fall brought a resurgence of the coronavirus in the Northern Hemisphere, the so-called second wave of COVID-19 that health experts anticipated. It’s not just that colder weather and lower humidity favor the spread of a virus that is still quite hardy during the summer months. The virus is also taking advantage of people who have covid fatigue or who still deny the existence of the virus. Many people still think they are safe simply because they have no other medical conditions or because they are relatively young. While COVID-19 generally kills older people and people with pre-existing conditions, there are many exceptions to those rules. There is no way of knowing what your experience with COVID-19 will be like if you detect it. And although doctors have made significant progress in saving lives and reducing the number of deaths, many people still succumb to complications from COVID-19 on a daily basis.
A team of doctors has designed a COVID-19 severity score, the first of its kind, to predict the severity of the disease in people. Knowing in advance that a patient’s condition is about to get worse could be the kind of valuable information that can save lives. Doctors would be warned and could take appropriate action in the early stages of the disease to try to stop complications from occurring before they arrive.
If the Dublin-Boston score shows that it can indeed save more COVID-19 patients, it could be one of the biggest breakthroughs from the coronavirus pandemic yet. It could also become as popular as other medical scores you’re familiar with – the Apgar score that doctors use to quickly assess the condition of newborn babies. As a parent or doctor, you always want that score to be a perfect 10, which is an indication that the baby does not need any kind of emergency care after birth.
The Dublin-Boston score is named after the two hospitals that contributed to the research, RCSI, Harvard University, Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Their study was published in EBioMedicine from The Lancet (via ScieTechDaily).
This new prognostic score is calculated using a relationship between two inflammation markers: interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-10 (IL-10). IL-6 is a pro-inflammatory marker and IL-10 is anti-inflammatory. Scoring attempts to determine fluctuations in cytokines, and the term “cytokine” has become quite popular during the pandemic. It is the so-called “cytokine storms” that can kill patients, causing the immune response to accelerate to attack both infected cells and healthy tissue. “Using inflammatory cytokine balance as a means of projecting the outcome makes a mechanistic sense,” the researchers explain. “Both IL-6 and IL-10 are inextricably linked to cellular metabolism, which in turn is influenced by factors such as infections, severe inflammation, hypoxia, and obesity, all of which are found in COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization. . “
“Both the Dublin-Boston score and the 4-day change in IL-6: IL-10 ratio significantly outperformed IL-6 alone in predicting clinical outcome on day 7,” the paper reads. An April study indicated that elevated levels of troponin and IL-6 are associated with a poor prognosis for COVID-19.
IL-6 and IL-10 marker levels change in severe cases of COVID-19. The researchers proposed the relationship between them and a point system. Each 1 point increase means that a more severe result is 5.6 times more likely. The higher the score, the worse the prognosis.
The scientists selected 80 patients for the study, and the doctors treating them were blind to IL-6 and IL-10 levels or the Dublin-Boston score while treating them. In this way, they would not tailor therapies based on those measures.
“The Dublin-Boston score is easily calculated and can be applied to all hospitalized Covid-19 patients,” said RCSI professor of medicine Gerry McElvaney. SciTechDaily. “A more informed forecast could help determine when to scale up or down care, a key component of efficient resource allocation during the current pandemic. The score may also play a role in evaluating whether new therapies designed to decrease inflammation in Covid-19 actually provide benefits. “
As with other COVID-19 studies, more research may be required to verify whether the Dublin-Boston score can save lives. For example, researchers also warn of the risks involved in trying to correct the value of the relationship to treatment. “While the Dublin-Boston score and changes in the IL-6: IL-10 ratio predict clinical outcome and provide insight into the pathogenesis of COVID-19 inflammation, we emphasize that these data alone do not support attempts. to manipulate the ratio directly as a therapeutic target. Although IL-6 can contribute to organ damage and death in sepsis syndromes, it is also required for innate immunity and microbial clearance. Therefore, imprecise inhibition of pro-inflammatory effects can represent a double-edged sword. “
Whether it works or not, researchers will not stop looking for markers that allow them to predict serious complications from COVID-19. Other ideas already exist, including a common blood test that could predict the severity of the disease.
Chris Smith began writing about gadgets as a hobby, and before he knew it, he shared his views on technology with readers around the world. Whenever he doesn’t write about gadgets, he miserably fails to stay away from them, though he desperately tries. But that is not necessarily a bad thing.
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