Photo Credit: gaetan stoffel

The following is a summary of “Analysis of early warning indicators of death in patients with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome,” published in the August 2024 issue of Infectious Disease by Yang et al.

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) remains a formidable disease with rapid onset, high mortality, and no specific treatment.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to identify early predictors of mortality among patients with SFTS.

They analyzed patients admitted with confirmed SFTS (January 2023 to October 2023). Clinical symptoms, signs at admission, and laboratory indexes from the first blood collection were gathered. Data were grouped by prognosis and analyzed statistically.

The results showed that 141 patients, 27 died, and 114 survived. Statistical analysis identified combined hemorrhagic manifestations, disturbance of consciousness, lymphopenia, elevated lipase, and prolonged thrombin time at admission as independent risk factors for death. The area under the curve (AUC) for lymphopenia count was 0.670, 95% CI (0.563–0.776), P=0.006; for elevated serum lipase index, the AUC was 0.789, 95% CI (0.699–0.878), P<0.001; and for prolonged thrombin time, the AUC was 0.749, 95% CI (0.645–0.854), P<0.001.

Investigators concluded that hemorrhagic manifestations, altered consciousness, lymphopenia, elevated serum lipase, and prolonged thrombin time at admission were associated with increased mortality in patients with SFTS, highlighting the need for early intervention.

Source: bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-024-09599-0