Association of Admission Troponin Levels with Hospitalization and Mortality in COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to identify the association of cardiac Troponin T (cTnT) levels with hospitalization and in-hospital mortality in patients admitted to the emergency department (ED) and diagnosed with COVID-19. Material and Method: Retrospectively, we scanned the data of adult patients preŞenting to the ED of a university hospital within 50 days of the first COVID-19 case admission (March 2020 – May 2020). The study group consisted of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 by reverse-transcripTaşe polymerase chain reaction, and had cTnT test. Demographic and laboratory data, thoracic computed tomography (CT) imaging findings, and length of hospital stay were also collected. The study outcomes were patients’ hospitalization status and in-hospital mortality. Results: Out of 36 patients, 9 (25%) were discharged, 20 (55.6%) remained in-patients in the ward, and 7 (19.4%) in the intensive care unit. When overall in-patients were compared to discharged patients, a significant difference was observed with regard to age [median (25% -75%)] [60 (45–69) to 28 (26–39.5) years, respectively; p=0.003)], thoracic CT score [6 (0–11) to 0 (0–0.5), respectively; p=0.005], admission cTnT values [5.99 (3.50–15.55) to 3 (3–3.28) ng/L; p=0.012]. The mortality rate among in-patients was 18.5%. In the multivariate cox regression model, none of these parameters significantly affected survival. Conclusion: The cTnT values of COVID-19 patients are likely to be associated with hospitalization and mortality. Thoracic CT score was higher in patients admitted to the intensive care unit. However, neither cTnT values nor thoracic CT scores have a statistically significant effect on survival, even if their distributions are different between survived and non-survived groups.