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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Clinical Infectious Diseases
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1450196

Immunological characteristics in elderly COVID-19 patients: a post-COVID era analysis

Provisionally accepted
Yunhui Li Yunhui Li Yuan Chen Yuan Chen Jing Liang Jing Liang Yajie Wang Yajie Wang *
  • Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Advanced age is a primary risk factor for adverse COVID-19 outcomes, potentially attributed to immunosenescence and dysregulated inflammatory responses. In the post-pandemic era, with containment measures lifted, the elderly remain particularly susceptible, highlighting the need for intensified focus on immune health management.Methods: A total of 281 elderly patients were enrolled in this study and categorized based on their clinical status at the time of admission into three groups: non-severe (n = 212), severe survivors (n = 49), and severe non-survivors (n = 20). Binary logistic regression analysis was employed to identify independent risk factors associated with disease severity and in-hospital outcomes. The diagnostic performance of risk factors was assessed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log-rank test were utilized to compare the 30-day survival rates.Furthermore, the transcriptomic data of CD4 + T cells were extracted from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was applied to reveal biological processes and pathways involved.In the comparison between severe and non-severe COVID-19 cases, significant elevations were observed in the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), C-reactive protein (CRP), and Serum Amyloid A (SAA) levels, concurrent with a notable reduction in CD8 + T cells, CD4 + T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and monocytes (all p < 0.05). CD4 + T cells (OR

    Keywords: COVID-19, Immunological characteristics, the elderly, Cd4 + t cell, gene set enrichment analysis

    Received: 17 Jun 2024; Accepted: 14 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Li, Chen, Liang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yajie Wang, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.