Neurofilaments as a plasma biomarker for ICU-acquired weakness: an observational pilot study

Early diagnosis of intensive care unit - acquired weakness (ICU-AW) using the current reference standard, that is, assessment of muscle strength, is often hampered due to impaired consciousness. Biological markers could solve this problem but have been scarcely investigated. We hypothesized that plasma levels of neurofilaments are elevated in ICU-AW and can diagnose ICU-AW before muscle strength assessment is possible.

For this prospective observational cohort study, neurofilament levels were measured using ELISA (NfHSMI35 antibody) in daily plasma samples (index test). When patients were awake and attentive, ICU-AW was diagnosed using the Medical Research Council scale (reference standard). Differences and discriminative power (using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve; AUC) of highest and cumulative (calculated using the area under the neurofilament curve) neurofilament levels were investigated in relation to the moment of muscle strength assessment for each patient.

Both the index test and reference standard were available for 77 ICU patients. A total of 18 patients (23%) fulfilled the clinical criteria for ICU-AW. Peak neurofilament levels were higher in patients with ICU-AW and had good discriminative power (AUC: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.72 to 0.97). However, neurofilament levels did not peak before muscle strength assessment was possible. Highest or cumulative neurofilament levels measured before muscle strength assessment could not diagnose ICU-AW (AUC 0.59; 95% CI 0.37 to 0.80 and AUC 0.57; 95% CI 0.32 to 0.81, respectively).

Plasma neurofilament levels are raised in ICU-AW and may serve as a biological marker for ICU-AW. However, our study suggests that an early diagnosis of ICU-AW, before muscle strength assessment, is not possible using neurofilament levels in plasma.