The value of cystatin C in evaluating the severity and prognosis of patients with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome

BACKGROUND: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a novel emerging viral infectious disease. We explore the value of cystatin C (CysC) level in the evaluation of disease severity and prognosis in patients with SFTS. METHODS: 254 patients with SFTS were enrolled in this study. According to the classification and the outcome of the disease, the patients were divided into the general group and the severe group, the severe patients were divided into the fatal group and the non-fatal group. We compared the laboratory indexes by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis to explore the severity and prognostic risk factors of SFTS disease, ROC curve and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis curve were drawn to analyze the independent risk factors and the predictive value of disease severity and prognosis. RESULTS: Univariate analysis showed that the CysC level in severe group and fatal group was significantly higher than general group and non-fatal group (P < 0.05), respectively. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the CysC level was an independent risk factor for severe and death in SFTS patients, and it can effectively predict the risk of severe (AUC = 0.711, 95% CI: 0.645–0.777) and death (AUC = 0.814, 95% CI: 0.737–0.89). The risk of death in patients with cystatin C ≥ 1.23 mg/L was 5.487 times higher than that in patients with cystatin C < 1.23 mg/L. CONCLUSIONS: The CysC level have good predictive value for disease severity and prognosis in patients with SFTS. Trial registration Not applicable