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. 2021 Sep 1;56(3):396-402.
doi: 10.1097/SHK.0000000000001735.

Clinical Significance of Pro-inflammatory Cytokines and Their Correlation with Disease Severity and Blood Coagulation in Septic Patients with Bacterial Co-infection

Xin Wang  1   2 , Qi Zhang  1   3 , Yong Yan  2 , Yang Yang  2 , Xueyi Shang  2 , Yan Li  2
Affiliations

Clinical Significance of Pro-inflammatory Cytokines and Their Correlation with Disease Severity and Blood Coagulation in Septic Patients with Bacterial Co-infection

Xin Wang et al. Shock. .

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical significance of pro-inflammatory cytokines for disease severity and coagulation in septic patients with bacterial co-infection.

Methods: A total of 92 patients with sepsis admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) from January 2017 to August 2020 were enrolled and their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. Forty-seven patients (51.1%) had a single infection by Klebsiella pneumoniae or Acinetobacter baumannii (single-infection group), and 45 patients (48.9%) were infected by both species (co-infection group). We compared the clinical characteristics and disease severity among the 92 patients. Disease severity was defined as ICU stay time and 30-day mortality. Plasma concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines and their correlation with disease severity and blood coagulation were analyzed.

Results: The 30-day mortality in the co-infection group (35.5%) was significantly higher than in the single-infection group (19.1%). The levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in the co-infection group were higher than in the single-infection group. Moreover, high levels of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α were positively correlated with disease severity (Spearman P value < 0.05). High levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were negatively correlated with the platelet count (Spearman P value < 0.05) and positively correlated with prothrombin time, and plasma levels of fibrin degradation product and D-dimer levels (Spearman P value < 0.05 for all).

Conclusion: Septic patients with bacterial co-infection had increased plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, a positive correlation between high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and increased disease severity and depressed blood coagulation function for septic patients with co-infection was identified.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

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