AUTHOR=Moreno-Perez Oscar , Nuñez Julio , Sandin-Rollan Miriam , Arrarte Vicente , Boix Vicente , Reus Sergio , Pinargote-Celorio Hector , Ribes Isabel , Alfayate Rocio , Llorca-Santos Maria Belen , Martinez-Garcia Maria Angeles , Chico-Sánchez Pablo , Merino Esperanza 

TITLE=Early carbohydrate antigen 125 as a mortality predictor in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2022.941512

DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2022.941512

ISSN=2297-055X

ABSTRACT=Background: Carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), is an indicator of inflammation, immune response, and impaired cardiac function. The aim was to investigate whether CA125 behaves as a biomarker of severity and poor clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
Methods. Serum CA125 (Elecsys CA125 II assay-[Roche Diagnostics GmbH]) was measured in stored biobank samples from COVID-19 hospitalized patients between March 01th 2020 to October 17th  2021. Multiple logistic regression models were built to explore the association between CA125 and clinical outcomes (in-hospital all-cause mortality, need for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) or non-invasive respiratory support (nonIRS)), estimating odds ratios (OR; 95%CI). The gradient of risk of CA125 was evaluated by fractional polynomials.
Results. 691 patients were included, median age of 63 years [50-76], males (57.2%), with high comorbidity. At admission 85.8% had pneumonia. Median CA125 was 10.33 U/mL [7.48-15.50]. In-hospital mortality rate was 7.2%. After adjusting for confounding factors, CA125 ≥15.5 U/mL (75th percentile) showed an increased risk of death (OR 2.85[1.21-6.71]), as age ≥ 65 years, diabetes and immunosuppression. Further, CA125 as a continuous variable was positive and significantly associated with the risk of death after multivariate adjustment. Mean hospital stay of the patients with CA125 ≥15.5 U/mL, was longer than the rest of the study population.
Conclusions. CA125 in the first 72 hours of hospital admission seems a useful biomarker of mortality in hospitalized patients with moderate – severe COVID-19. If our findings are confirmed, the wide availability of this biomarker would make easy its widespread implementation in clinical practice.