Faculty of Medicine

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    Item type:Publication,
    Association of Inflammatory Markers with Disease Severity and Outcome in Covid-19 Patients
    (Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2023-03-01)
    Gjuzelova Aleksoska, Aleksandra
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    Nakova Velkoska, Valentina
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    Metodieva, Marija
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    Stojkoska Jorganovic, Aleksandra
    Objectives: The coronavirus pandemic was associated with a high mortality rate in the Republic of North Macedonia. Finding early markers of the disease's severity may predict outcomes and guide the treatment of the disease. The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of inflammatory markers in predicting the outcome of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients. Methods: The study included 104 PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients who underwent hospital treatment at the Institute of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis in Skopje, North Macedonia, between November 2020 and May 2021. Inflammatory markers were assessed in all patients and correlated with the disease severity and outcome in terms of survival or death. Results: IL-6 and LDH at admission were significantly elevated in patients with a severe or critical form of the disease and among non-survivors. In addition, IL-6 showed 87.9% of sensitivity and 61.8% of specificity for distinguishing non-survivors from survivors with a cut-off value of 21.7 pg/ml in the receiver operator curve (ROC). Procalcitonin was significantly increased in non-survivors. Parallel to the increase of disease severity, the values of CRP and LDH increased significantly during hospitalization. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that a significant association exists between the highly increased levels of CRP, LDH, IL-6 and procalcitonin and the severity of the disease and mortality in COVID-19 patients. Their measurements and follow-up during the course of the disease could be used as predictors for prognosis and outcome but also as a subject for targeted therapy.
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    Item type:Publication,
    Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) as a comorbidity of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
    (European Respiratory Society, 2021-09-05)
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    Mickovski, Ivana
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    Kamchevska, Nade Kochovska
    We aimed to investigate the association between COPD and MetS, the relation to the severity of airflow limitation and the level of serum C-reactive protein (CRP). Cross-sectional study including 120 patients with initially diagnosed COPD, aged 40-75 years and 60 non-COPD controls, matched by age, smoking status, body mass index. All study participants underwent anthropometric measurements, fasting blood sugar (FBS), lipid profile, CRP, pulmonary evaluation (dyspnea severity assessment, baseline and post-bronchodilator spirometry, gas analyses, chest X-ray). Results presented statistically significant difference in presence of MetS in COPD patients compared to controls (47.5% vs 20.0%, p=0.0004). According to the GOLD classification, the frequencies of MetS in COPD patients were categorized in stages I, II, III, IV (40.0%, 45.8%, 46.7%, 43.0% respectively), and according to combined assessment test in A, B, C, D (29.2%, 37.5%, 35.0%, 41.7% respectively). COPD patients with MetS presented significant association with CRP (p=0.001) and no association with pulmonary function. FBS was higher in COPD compared to controls (8.4±1.1mmol/L vs. 4.9±2.1mmol/L, p<0.0001), but HDL was lower in COPD than non-COPD (39.1±6.4mg/dl vs 49.6±3.9mg/dl, p<0.0001). Waist circumference and blood pressure (BP) were higher in COPD 95.8±3.4cm vs. control group 91.8±2.9cm, p<0.0001. Mean systolic BP was 138.3±12.2mmHg vs. 125.5±6.1mmHg, p<0.0001 in non-COPD. We found higher prevalence of MetS in patients with COPD even in early COPD stages compared to non-COPD group. Our findings suggest an urgent need to develop comprehensive strategies for prevention, screening and start of treatment in the early stage of the disease.