Serum uric acid, disease severity and outcomes in COVID-19

BACKGROUND: The severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is highly variable between individuals, ranging from asymptomatic infection to critical disease with acute respiratory distress syndrome requiring mechanical ventilation. Such variability stresses the need for novel biomarkers associated with disease outcome. As SARS-CoV-2 infection causes a kidney proximal tubule dysfunction with urinary loss of uric acid, we hypothesized that low serum levels of uric acid (hypouricemia) may be associated with severity and outcome of COVID-19.

METHODS: In a retrospective study using two independent cohorts, we investigated and validated the prevalence, kinetics and clinical correlates of hypouricemia among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 to a large academic hospital in Brussels, Belgium. Survival analyses using Cox regression and a competing risk approach assessed the time to mechanical ventilation and/or death. Confocal microscopy assessed the expression of urate transporter URAT1 in kidney proximal tubule cells from patients who died from COVID-19.

RESULTS: The discovery and validation cohorts included 192 and 325 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, respectively. Out of the 517 patients, 274 (53%) had severe and 92 (18%) critical COVID-19. In both cohorts, the prevalence of hypouricemia increased from 6% upon admission to 20% within the first days of hospitalization for COVID-19, contrasting with a very rare occurrence (< 1%) before hospitalization for COVID-19. During a median (interquartile range) follow-up of 148 days (50-168), 61 (12%) patients required mechanical ventilation and 93 (18%) died. In both cohorts considered separately and in pooled analyses, low serum levels of uric acid were strongly associated with disease severity (linear trend, P < 0.001) and with progression to death and respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation in Cox (adjusted hazard ratio 5.3, 95% confidence interval 3.6-7.8, P < 0.001) or competing risks (adjusted hazard ratio 20.8, 95% confidence interval 10.4-41.4, P < 0.001) models. At the structural level, kidneys from patients with COVID-19 showed a major reduction in urate transporter URAT1 expression in the brush border of proximal tubules.

CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with COVID-19 requiring hospitalization, low serum levels of uric acid are common and associate with disease severity and with progression to respiratory failure requiring invasive mechanical ventilation.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:25

Enthalten in:

Critical care (London, England) - 25(2021), 1 vom: 14. Juni, Seite 212

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Dufour, Inès [VerfasserIn]
Werion, Alexis [VerfasserIn]
Belkhir, Leila [VerfasserIn]
Wisniewska, Anastazja [VerfasserIn]
Perrot, Marie [VerfasserIn]
De Greef, Julien [VerfasserIn]
Schmit, Gregory [VerfasserIn]
Yombi, Jean Cyr [VerfasserIn]
Wittebole, Xavier [VerfasserIn]
Laterre, Pierre-François [VerfasserIn]
Jadoul, Michel [VerfasserIn]
Gérard, Ludovic [VerfasserIn]
Morelle, Johann [VerfasserIn]
CUSL COVID-19 Research Group [VerfasserIn]
Beauloye, Christophe [Sonstige Person]
Collienne, Christine [Sonstige Person]
Dechamps, Mélanie [Sonstige Person]
Dupriez, Florence [Sonstige Person]
Hantson, Philippe [Sonstige Person]
Jacquet, Luc-Marie [Sonstige Person]
Kabamba, Benoit [Sonstige Person]
Larbaoui, Fatima [Sonstige Person]
Montiel, Virginie [Sonstige Person]
Penaloza, Andrea [Sonstige Person]
Pothen, Lucie [Sonstige Person]
Rodriguez-Villalobos, Hector [Sonstige Person]
Scohy, Anais [Sonstige Person]
Thoma, Maximilien [Sonstige Person]
Van Caeneghem, Olivier [Sonstige Person]
Yildiz, Halil [Sonstige Person]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

268B43MJ25
Acute respiratory distress syndrome
Hypouricemia
Journal Article
Mechanical ventilation
Organic Anion Transporters
Organic Cation Transport Proteins
Proximal tubule
SARS-CoV-2
SLC22A12 protein, human
Uric Acid

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 22.06.2021

Date Revised 22.06.2021

published: Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1186/s13054-021-03616-3

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM326748997