Clinical significance of indeterminate QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus assay results in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with severe hyperinflammatory syndrome
Performance of the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) assay could be affected by conditions of immune dysregulation. Little is known about the reliability of QTF-Plus in COVID-19 patients. Our aim was to determine the prevalence and the factors related to an indeterminate QFT-Plus test in COVID-19...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2021 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/176144 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/176144 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | COVID-19 Mortalitat Mortality |
| Sumario: | Performance of the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) assay could be affected by conditions of immune dysregulation. Little is known about the reliability of QTF-Plus in COVID-19 patients. Our aim was to determine the prevalence and the factors related to an indeterminate QFT-Plus test in COVID-19 hospitalized patients, and to analyze its relationship with in-hospital mortality. A retrospective analysis of all hospitalized COVID-19 patients on whom a QTF-Plus assay was performed in a tertiary care public hospital during the first epidemic wave in Spain (March-April 2020). Out of a total of 96 patients included, 34 (35.4%) had an indeterminate result, in all cases due to a lack of response in the mitogen control. Factors related to COVID-19 severity, such as higher lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (odds ratio [OR] 1.005 [95% confidence interval [CI] 1.002-1.008]) and previous administration of corticosteroids (OR 4.477 [95% CI 1.397-14.345]), were independent predictors for indeterminate QFT-Plus assay. Furthermore, indeterminate results were more frequent among COVID-19 patients who died during hospitalization (29.1% vs. 64.7%; p = 0.005). We conclude that QFT-Plus assay yielded an unexpected, high prevalence of indeterminate results in severe COVID-19 patients. Factors related to worse COVID-19 outcome, such as LDH, as well as corticosteroid use before the QFT-Plus assay, seem to be predictors for an indeterminate result. The role of an indeterminate QFT-Plus result in predicting COVID-19 severity and mortality should be evaluated. |
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