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Background and aim Sarcoidosis is a multisystem inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between systemic inflammatory parameters, the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), and disease stage, clinical findings, and 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18F-FDG) tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) uptake. Materials and methods Our study included 73 patients. The general characteristics, radiological features, spirometric tests, PET/CT findings, and laboratory parameters of the patients were recorded. Results Relapse and parenchymal fibrosis were not associated with metabolic parameters, such as LMR and SII. Serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) levels were lower in the relapsed group than in the non-relapse group. However, the patients' PET/CT images indicated that 18F-FDG parenchym maximum standard uptake value (SUV max), lymph node SUV max, lymph node short axis dimension, SII, and LMR were similar between all patients, relapsed or not. Conclusion Although found to be significant in other inflammatory diseases, we found that SII and LMR alone did not indicate disease prognosis in sarcoidosis due to the small number of patients and the lack of homogeneity between the groups in our study. The usefulness of these markers for clinical use should be investigated by studies that include those with extrapulmonary sarcoidosis, and that calculate these markers at the time of disease diagnosis and during the post-treatment period.
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Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can cause asymptomatic, mild upper respiratory tract symptoms and pneumonia in young persons. How the disease will progress in each patient is still unknown. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the prognostic markers of the development of pneumonia and the clinical characteristics of patients under 65 years with COVID-19 confirmed by a positive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction test. Methods: In this retrospective study, a total of 271 patients admitted in our unit were included. The patients were divided into two groups, those who did and those who did not develop pneumonia. Their clinical features, treatment protocols, and laboratory parameters were recorded retrospectively. Results: Pneumonia developed in 67.9% (n = 184) of the cases. The age in the pneumonia group was higher than that in the non-pneumonia group (p < 0.001). In the logistic regression analysis, the symptom and co-morbidity status were examined according to the presence of pneumonia; hypertension (HT) (OR: 4525, 95% CL: 1,494-13,708) was the most important risk factor for pneumonia. When age and laboratory values were examined according to the presence of pneumonia, advanced age (OR: 1.042, 95% CL: 1.01-1.073), low albumin (OR: 0.917, 95% CL: 0.854-0.986), and high troponin (OR: 1.291, 95% CL: 1.044-1.596) were identified as risk factors for pneumonia. Conclusion: In this article, HT (22.3%, P < 0.001) has been considered as an important risk factor, whereas association of diabetes mellitus (21.2%, P 0.029) and smoking (25.0%, P 0.038) was also significant. The median age of the group was 51 (41.5-58) in the group developing pneumonia and 41 (30-48) in the non-developing group. Young patients with these predictive factors should be more carefully evaluated by further diagnostic procedures, such as thoracic computed tomography.
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Background The men infected with COVID-19 have been shown to have more severe disease and a higher mortality rate. Morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19 are mediated through intense viral inflammation and increased levels of inflammatory biomarkers. We aimed to retrospectively evaluate any gender difference in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia in terms of inflammatory biomarkers. Methods Our study included 132 patients. The general characteristics, radiological features and laboratory parameters of the patients were recorded. Results No difference was observed between the genders according to comorbidities, pulse steroid requirement and hypoxemia. There was no difference between the male and female participants in terms of age, white blood cell count, lymphocyte count, red cell distribution width, C-reactive protein, troponin, albumin and D-dimer. However, duration of hospitalization; percentage of polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PNL); and haemoglobin, alanine aminotransferase and ferritin values were higher in the males, and lymphocyte percentage and platelet count were higher in the women participants. Conclusion Larger studies with gender-specific reporting and robust analyses are required to clarify how gender alters the cellular and molecular pathways associated with COVID-19. This would improve the interpretation of biomarkers and the clinical management of COVID-19 patients by facilitating a personalised medical approach to risk stratification, prevention and treatment.