Prognostic Value of Clinical and Laboratory Markers in Hospitalized Influenza-Positive Patients: A Retrospective...

Area of Science:

• Clinical Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Critical Care Medicine

Background:

• Seasonal influenza remains a significant global health burden, causing considerable morbidity and mortality.
• Early identification of patients at risk for severe outcomes is crucial for effective management and resource allocation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify clinical and paraclinical predictors of adverse outcomes in hospitalized influenza patients.
• To evaluate factors associated with prolonged hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and in-hospital mortality.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 294 RT-PCR-confirmed influenza cases from fall-winter 2022-2023.
• Logistic regression and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis were employed to identify independent predictors and optimal cutoff values.

Main Results:

• Prolonged hospitalization (43.5%), ICU admission (8.8%), and mortality (5.0%) were observed.
• Opium use, renal disease, and elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH > 1000) predicted longer hospital stays.
• LDH > 1000 strongly predicted ICU admission and mortality. Oxygen saturation < 93% increased mortality risk.
• Optimal cutoffs for mortality prediction were LDH ≥ 633 and C-reactive protein (CRP) ≥ 88.5.

Conclusions:

• Readily available markers like LDH, CRP, and oxygen saturation can aid in early risk stratification of hospitalized influenza patients.
• These markers can assist clinicians in identifying patients likely to experience prolonged hospitalization, ICU admission, or mortality.