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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Pathogenesis and Therapy
Volume 11 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1366545
Semi-quantitative CT score reflecting the degree of pulmonary infection as a risk factor of hypokalemia in COVID-19 patients: A cross-sectional study
Provisionally accepted
Ru Li
1,2
Baofeng Wu
1,2
Xifeng Yang
1,2
Botao Liu
3*
Jian Zhang
1,2
Mengnan Li
1,2
Yi Zhang
4
Ying Qiao
5*
Yunfeng Liu
2*- 1 First Clinical Medical College, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
- 2 Department of Endocrinology, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
- 3 Department of Medical Imaging, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
- 4 Department of Pharmacology, School of Basic Medicine, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shaanxi, China
- 5 Department of Radiology, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
Background Hypokalemia is a common electrolyte disorder observed in patients afflicted with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). When COVID-19 is combined with a pulmonary infection, chest computed tomography (CT) is the preferred diagnostic modality. This study aimed to explore the relationship between CT semi-quantitative score reflecting the degree of pulmonary infection and hypokalemia from COVID-19 patients. Methods A single-center, cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between December 2022 and January 2023 who underwent chest CT scans upon admission showing typical signs. These patients were categorized into two groups based on their blood potassium levels: normokalemia group and hypokalemia group. Medical history, symptoms, vital signs, laboratory data and CT severe score were compared. Binary regression analysis was employed to identify risk factors associated with hypokalemia in COVID-19 patients with pulmonary infection. Results A total of 288 COVID-19 patients with pulmonary infection were enrolled in the study, of which 68 (23.6%) patients had hypokalemia. In the hypokalemia group, there was higher CT severity score than the normokalemia group [4.0(3.0-5.0)vs3.0(2.0-4.0), p=0.001]. The result of binary logistic regression analysis revealed that after adjusting for sex, vomiting, sodium and using potassium-excretion diuretics, higher CT severity score was an independent risk factor for hypokalemia (OR=1.229, 95%CI=1.077-1.403, p=0.002). Conclusions In this cohort of patients, semi-quantitative CT score reflecting the degree of pulmonary infection could be used as a risk factor of hypokalemia in COVID-19 patients.
Keywords: COVID 19, SARS-CoV-2, Hypokalemia, Water-Electrolyte Imbalance, Pneumonia
Received: 06 Jan 2024; Accepted: 04 Oct 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Li, Wu, Yang, Liu, Zhang, Li, Zhang, Qiao and Liu. 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:
Botao Liu, Department of Medical Imaging, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
Ying Qiao, Department of Radiology, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030001, Shanxi Province, China
Yunfeng Liu, Department of Endocrinology, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
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