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. 2024 Jan 4;14(1):120.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics14010120.

A Sequent of Gram-Negative Co-Infectome-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Are Potentially Subtle Aggravators Associated to the SARS-CoV-2 Evolution of Virulence

Kamaleldin B Said  1   2 , Ahmed Alsolami  3 , Khalid F Alshammari  3 , Fawaz Alshammari  4 , Sulaf A Alhallabi  1 , Shahad F Alafnan  1 , Safia Moussa  5 , Abdelhafiz I Bashir  6 , Kareemah S Alshurtan  7 , Rana Aboras  8 , Ehab K Sogeir  8 , Alfatih M A Alnajib  9 , Abdullah D Alotaibi  10 , Ruba M Elsaid Ahmed  1
Affiliations

A Sequent of Gram-Negative Co-Infectome-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Are Potentially Subtle Aggravators Associated to the SARS-CoV-2 Evolution of Virulence

Kamaleldin B Said et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is one of the major problems in COVID-19 that is not well understood. ARDS is usually complicated by co-infections in hospitals. Although ARDS is inherited by Europeans and Africans, this is not clear for those from the Middle East. There are severe limitations in correlations made between COVID-19, ARDS, co-infectome, and patient demographics. We investigated 298 patients for associations of ARDS, coinfections, and patient demographics on COVID-19 patients' outcomes. Of the 149 patients examined for ARDS during COVID-19, 16 had an incidence with a higher case fatality rate (CFR) of 75.0% compared to those without ARDS (27.0%) (p value = 0.0001). The co-infectome association showed a CFR of 31.3% in co-infected patients; meanwhile, only 4.8% of those without co-infections (p value = 0.01) died. The major bacteria were Acinetobacter baumannii and Escherichia coli, either alone or in a mixed infection with Klebsiella pneumoniae. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of COVID-19 patients with and without ARDS revealed a significant difference in the survival time of patients with ARDS (58.8 +/- 2.7 days) and without ARDS (41.9 +/- 1.8 days) (p value = 0.0002). These findings prove that increased hospital time was risky for co-infectome-induced SDRS later on. This also explained that while empiric therapy and lethal ventilations delayed the mortality in 75% of patients, they potentially did not help those without co-infection or ARDS who stayed for shorter times. In addition, the age of patients (n = 298) was significantly associated with ARDS (72.9 +/- 8.9) compared to those without it (56.2 +/- 15.1) and was irrespective of gender. However, there were no significant differences neither in the age of admitted patients before COVID-19 (58.5 +/- 15.3) and during COVID-19 (57.2 +/- 15.5) nor in the gender and COVID-19 fatality (p value 0.546). Thus, Gram-negative co-infectome potentially induced fatal ARDS, aggravating the COVID-19 outcome. These findings are important for the specific differential diagnosis of patients with and without ARDS and co-infections. Future vertical investigations on mechanisms of Gram-negative-induced ARDS are imperative since hypervirulent strains are rapidly circulating. This study was limited as it was a single-center study confined to Ha'il hospitals; a large-scale investigation in major national hospitals would gain more insights.

Keywords: ARDS; COVID-19 fatality; co-evolution of virulence; co-infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of survival analysis in COVID-19 subjects with no ARDS versus those with it.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of survival analysis in COVID-19–ARDS patients with or without bacterial co-infection.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of survival analysis in COVID-19 subjects with or without bacterial co-infection in subjects without ARDS.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Association of admitted patients’ age with ARDS incidence rates in the study population in Ha’il, Saudi Arabia.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Kaplan–Meier survival analysis of COVID-19 patients with and without ARDS.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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