Nutritional Advice El Mondo
Objectives:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections, resulting in a range of clinical manifestations and outcomes. Laboratory and immunological alterations have been considered as potential markers of disease severity and clinical evolution. Type I interferons (IFN-I), mainly represented by IFN-α and β, are a group of cytokines with an important function in antiviral responses and have played a complex role in COVID-19. Some studies have demonstrated that IFN-I levels and interferon response is elevated in mild cases, while other studies have noted this in severe cases. The involvement of IFN-I on the pathogenesis and outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection remains unclear. Therefore, this review article has been conducted.
Can peripheral IFN-α be used as a severity marker for COVID-19 infection?
Study design:
This review article included 15 studies.
The average age of participants was 43 to 63 years and the percentage of male participants ranged from 42 to 83%.
The general methodological quality of the studies included in this review was high, with all the studies presenting scores on the Newcastle-Ottawa scale ranging from 7 to 8, demonstrating good methodological quality.
Results and conclusions:
The investigators found there was no significant difference in plasma levels of IFN-α when comparing between mild and severe patients [SMD = -0.236, 95% CI= -0.645 to 0.173, p = 0.258, I2 = 82.11] nor when comparing between patients mild and critical [SMD = 0.203, 95% CI = -0.363 to 0.770, p = 0.481, I2 = 64.06%].
No significant because the calculated p-value of 0.481 was larger than the p-value of 0.05.
The investigators found, however, there was a significant difference between healthy individuals and patients with mild disease [SMD = 0.447, 95% CI = 0.085 to 0.810, p = 0.016, I2 = 62.89%].
Significant because the calculated p-value of = 0.016 was less than the p-value of 0.05.
The investigators concluded that the plasma protein levels of type I IFN, based on peripheral measurement of IFN-α, do not demonstrate significant differences between mild, severe or critical patients. Therefore, IFN-α cannot be used alone as a severity marker for COVID-19.
Original title:
Circulating Type I Interferon Levels and COVID-19 Severity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by Pires da Silva R, Gonçalves JIB, […], Duarte de Souza AP.
Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8149905/
Additional information of El Mondo:
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