Soluble Interleukin-2 Receptor Level in Hypertensive Patients with COVID-19-associated Pneumonia

Abstract

Introduction. Soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) is considered to be an important biomarker that reflects the condition of patients with COVID-19. The establishment of its predictive ability in hypertensive patients with COVID-19-associated pneumonia is perspective.
 Aim. This study aimed to evaluate of serum sIL-2R level and to establish its predictive ability for severe/critical clinical condition and mortality in patients with COVID-19-associated pneumonia and arterial hypertension.
 Materials and methods. 135 unvaccinated adult patients hospitalized for COVID-19-associated pneumonia were enrolled in the study. 106 (78.5%) patients were hypertensive.
 Results. There was higher median serum sIL-2R level at hospital admission in hypertensive patients (5.87 [4.51–8.16] ng/mL) than in non-hypertensive patients (4.99 [3.56–6.14] ng/mL) (p=0.037). There was no statistically significant difference in sIL-2R levels at admission in patients with moderate, severe and critical clinical conditions among hypertensive patients (p=0.171 according to the Kruskal-Wallis test). But among non-hypertensive patients, serum sIL-2R was higher in patients with severe condition (5.73 [4.90–8.90] ng/mL) than in patients with moderate condition (3.87 [2.71–5.37] ng/mL) (p=0.041 according to the Kruskal-Wallis test, post-hoc Dunn’s test: p=0.012). There was no statistically significant difference in the median serum sIL-2R level between non-survivors (7.80 [5.96–9.94] ng/mL) and survivors (5.62 [4.29–7.71] ng/mL) (p=0.066). In hypertensive patients, serum sIL-2R level failed to predict in-hospital mortality (AUC=0.664, p=0.075), development of severe/critical clinical conditions (AUC=0.583, p=0.138), and need for supplemental oxygen (AUC=0.589, p=0.121).
 Conclusions. Hypertensive patients have higher serum sIL-2R levels at hospital admission than non-hypertensive patients. There is no statistically significant association between sIL-2R level at hospital admission and disease severity or in-hospital mortality in hypertensive patients. sIL-2R level at hospital admission failed to predict in-hospital mortality, development of severe/critical conditions, and need for supplemental oxygen in hypertensive patients. sIL-2R level is suggested to have the poor predictive ability in hypertensive patients.
 Keywords: COVID-19, hypertension, sIL-2R, prediction, pneumonia.