The diagnostic and prognostic role of myocardial injury biomarkers in hospitalized patients with COVID-19

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to systematically and comprehensively evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of myocardial injury biomarkers in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study of confirmed COVID-19 patients that were admitted to the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from January 30, 2020 to February 15, 2020. RESULTS: Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis demonstrated that cTnI-ultra had the highest area under the curve (AUC) at 0.855, with a sensitivity of 67.3% and a specificity of 88.7% for the prediction of in-hospital mortality. Patients with higher troponin I-ultra (cTnI-ultra), creatinine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB), and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) were associated with higher mortality, compared to those who lower levels. The multivariable cox regression indicated that age (hazard ratio (HR) 3.450, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.627–7.314, P = 0.001), coronary heart disease (HR 1.855, 95% CI 1.006–3.421; P = 0.048), elevated cTnI-ultra (HR 3.083, 95% CI 1.616–5.883, P = 0.001), elevated CK-MB (HR 2.907, 95% CI 1.233–6.854; P = 0.015), and elevated NT-proBNP (HR 5.776, 95% CI 2.272–14.682; P < 0.001) were associated with in-hospital mortality. CONCLUSIONS: cTnI-ultra might be the best predictor of in-hospital mortality among myocardial injury biomarkers. Elevated cTnI-ultra, CK-MB, and NT-proBNP were independent biomarkers of the mortality in COVID-19 patients.