The systemic immune-inflammation index in predicting sepsis mortality

The Combination of Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index and Serum Procalcitonin has High Auxiliary Predictive Value for Short-Term Adverse Prognosis in Septic Shock Patients

BACKGROUND

Septic shock is the most serious complication of sepsis, with more secure and efficient biomarkers urgently needed. Systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and serum procalcitonin (PCT) show involvement in predicting septic shock prognosis.

OBJECTIVE

Herein, we explored the clinical value of the SII-PCT combination in the short-term prognosis of septic shock patients.

METHODS

Totally 200 septic shock patients were analyzed retrospectively and allocated into the survival and death groups upon 28-day in-hospital outcomes. Correlations of SII, PCT, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II)/sepsis-related organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores, C-reactive protein (CRP), and serum creatinine (Scr) were analyzed using Spearman. The influencing factors of SII and serum PCT for short-term poor prognosis were analyzed using logistic multivariate regression model. The auxiliary predictive value of SII, PCT, and their combination for short-term adverse septic shock prognosis was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic curve. Differences in the area under the curve (AUC) were compared using MedCalc.

RESULTS

The death group had higher APACHE II/SOFA scores, LYM, CRP, Scr, SII, and PCT levels than the survival group. SII and PCT were positively correlated with APACHE II and SOFA scores, LYM, CRP, and Scr, and were independent risk factors influencing the adverse septic shock prognosis. The AUC of the SII-PCT combination in predicting short-term adverse septic shock prognosis was 0.893 (0.841-0.932), with 76.12% sensitivity and 87.97% specificity, with the combination showing a higher AUC than SII/PCT alone.

CONCLUSIONS

The SII-PCT combination helps predict the adverse prognosis of septic shock patients.

Systemic immune inflammation index is a valuable marker for predicting hemodialysis patients with depression: a cross-sectional study

Objective

Maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients suffer from enormous physical, mental stress and poor quality of life, so an increasing number of patients are in a long-term state of depression. A prominent feature of MHD patients is chronic persistent inflammation, which is also an important mechanism for the onset of depression. Therefore, finding economically convenient inflammatory markers to predict and diagnose the onset of depression in MHD patients is of great value. As a novel inflammatory marker, systemic immune inflammation index (SII) can more comprehensively reflect the inflammation and immunity level of patients. This study aims to explore the relationship between SII and depressive symptoms in MHD patients.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 206 MHD patients from three dialysis centers. Based on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) scores, patients were divided into non-depression and depression groups. Inter group comparison and multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed to determine whether SII is an independent risk factor for depression in MHD patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the predictive value of SII on depression symptoms in MHD patients.

Results

According to the HADS scale score, 38.83% of the included patients were in a state of depression. After adjusting for all confounding factors, MHD patients with SII>963.93 had a 4.709 times higher risk of depression than those with SII ≤ 478.32 (OR=4.709, 95% CI 1.821-12.178, P<0.01). ROC analysis showed that SII>685.11 was the best cutoff value for MHD depression patients, and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.681.

Conclusions

High SII is an independent risk factor for depressed MHD patients and an ideal inflammatory marker for predicting and identifying depression in MHD patients as assessed by the HADS scale.

Can Hematological Inflammatory Indices Be Used to Differentiate Modic Type 1 Changes from Brucella Spondylodiscitis?

Background and Objectives: Differentiation between brucella spondylodiscitis and Modic type I changes (MC1) includes difficulties. Hematological inflammatory indices (HII) such as neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and aggregate index of systemic inflammation (AISI) are suggested as indicators of inflammation and infection and have diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive roles in various diseases. This study aimed to evaluate differences between brucella spondylodiscitis and MC1 in terms of HII. Materials and Methods: Thirty-five patients with brucella spondylodiscitis and thirty-seven with MC1 were enrolled in the study. Brucella spondylodiscitis and MC1 were diagnosed by microbiological, serological, and radiological diagnostic tools. HII (NLR, MLR, PLR, NLPR, SII, SIRI, AISI) were derived from baseline complete blood count. Results: The two groups were similar for age (p = 0.579) and gender (p = 0.092), leukocyte (p = 0.127), neutrophil (p = 0.366), lymphocyte (p = 0.090), and monocyte (p = 0.756) scores. The Brucella spondylodiscitis group had significantly lower pain duration (p < 0.001), higher CRP and ESR levels (p < 0.001), and lower platelet count (p = 0.047) than the MC1 group. The two groups had similarity in terms of HII: NLR (p = 0.553), MLR (p = 0.294), PLR (p = 0.772), NLPR (p = 0.115), SII (p = 0.798), SIRI (p = 0.447), and AISI (p = 0.248). Conclusions: Increased HII can be used to differentiate infectious and non-infectious conditions, but this may be invalid in brucellosis. However, pain duration, CRP and ESR levels, and platelet count may be useful to distinguish brucella spondylodiscitis from MC1.

Comparison of Inflammatory Marker Scoring Systems and Conventional Inflammatory Markers in Patients over 65 Years of Age Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit: A Multicenter, Retrospective, Cohort Study

Background: The aim of the current study is to evaluate the effects of inflammation markers on infection and mortality in patients over 65 years of age monitored in the intensive care unit (ICU). In this study, we attempted to determine the significance of the pan-immune-inflammation value (PIV); the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR); the platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR); the monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR); the systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII); the systemic immune response index (SIRI); multi-inflammatory indices (MIIs) 1, 2, and 3; and the CRP/albumin ratio (a new biomarker) as prognostic and mortality markers in patients over 65 years of age being monitored in the ICU. Methods: This multicenter, retrospective, cohort study was conducted on patients aged 65 and over who were admitted to two tertiary-level ICUs. Patients with cirrhosis, bone marrow transplantation, hematologic malignancy, steroid intake, current chemotherapy treatment, and neutropenia upon admission to the ICU were excluded from this study. Results: A total of 333 patients were included in this study. The group's 28-day mortality was found to be 31.8%. When each inflammatory marker associated with 28-day mortality was examined, the CRP/albumin ratio was found to be a better indicator than both the NLR and the SIRI, and the results were statistically significant (AUC: 0.665, 95% CI: 0.604-0.726, and p < 0.001). The NLR showed moderate discriminative ability in distinguishing mortality risk (AUC: 0.593, 95% CI: 0.526-0.660, and p = 0.006). Although the SIRI was lower than the NLR, it produced a statistically significant result (AUC: 0.580, 95% CI: 0.514-0.646, and p = 0.019). The CRP/albumin ratio was the most effective inflammatory marker in predicting mortality risk in older patients admitted to the ICU. Conclusions: It is important to monitor inflammatory markers (especially CRP/albumin ratio, NLR, SIRI, and MII 1-2-3) in older patients admitted to the ICU in order to accurately predict 28-day mortality. In the current study, the effects of PIV, MLR, PLR, and SII on the prediction of 28-day mortality in older ICU patients could not be demonstrated. We believe that more clinical studies are needed to determine the effects of PIV, MLR, PLR, and SII on short- and long-term prognoses and survival in older ICU patients.

PSO-XnB: a proposed model for predicting hospital stay of CAD patients

Coronary artery disease poses a significant challenge in decision-making when predicting the length of stay for a hospitalized patient. This study presents a predictive model-a Particle Swarm Optimized-Enhanced NeuroBoost-that combines the deep autoencoder with an eXtreme gradient boosting model optimized using particle swarm optimization. The model uses a fuzzy set of rules to categorize the length of stay into four distinct classes, followed by data preparation and preprocessing. In this study, the dimensionality of the data is reduced using deep neural autoencoders. The reconstructed data obtained from autoencoders is given as input to an eXtreme gradient boosting model. Finally, the model is tuned with particle swarm optimization to obtain optimal hyperparameters. With the proposed technique, the model achieved superior performance with an overall accuracy of 98.8% compared to traditional ensemble models and past research works. The model also scored highest in other metrics such as precision, recall, and particularly F1 scores for all categories of hospital stay. These scores validate the suitability of our proposed model in medical healthcare applications.

Association between systemic immunity-inflammation index and hypertension in US adults from NHANES 1999-2018

Hypertension is a disease closely related to inflammation, and the systemic immunity-inflammation index (SII) is a new and easily detectable inflammatory marker. We aimed to investigate the association between SII and hypertension risk in a adult population in the US. We utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey spanning from 1999 to 2018, incorporating comprehensive information from adults reporting hypertension. This included details on blood pressure monitoring, complete blood cell counts, and standard biochemical results. The SII was computed as the platelet count multiplied by the neutrophil count divided by the lymphocyte count. We employed a weighted multivariate logistic regression model to examine the correlation between SII and hypertension. Subgroup analyses were conducted to explore potential influencing factors. Furthermore, smooth curve fitting and two-piecewise logistic regression analysis were employed to describe non-linear relationships and identify inflection points. This population-based study involved 44,070 adults aged 20-85 years. Following Ln-transformation of the SII, multivariable logistic regression revealed that, in a fully adjusted model, participants in the highest quartile of Ln(SII) had a 12% increased risk of hypertension compared to those in the lowest quartile, which was statistically significant (OR:1.12; 95% CI 1.01, 1.24; P < 0.001), with a P for trend = 0.019. Subgroup analysis indicated no significant interactions between Ln(SII) and specific subgroups except for the body mass index subgroup (all P for interaction > 0.05). Additionally, the association between Ln(SII) and hypertension displayed a U-shaped curve, with an inflection point at 5.89 (1000 cells/μl). Based on this research result, we found a U-shaped correlation between elevated SII levels and hypertension risk in American adults, with a inflection point of 5.89 (1000 cells)/μl). To validate these findings, larger scale prospective surveys are needed to support the results of this study and investigate potential mechanisms.

Development of a Novel Inflammatory Index to Predict Coronary Artery Disease Severity in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome

The systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and systemic inflammation response index (SIRI) have previously demonstrated predictive value in coronary artery disease (CAD). We developed on an expanded, novel systemic immune-inflammation response index (SIIRI), calculated as peripheral neutrophil × monocyte × platelet ÷ lymphocyte count. We assessed 240 patients with an acute coronary syndrome that subsequently underwent percutaneous coronary intervention. CAD severity was measured using the SYNTAX score. Laboratory measurements, including cell counts, were obtained on admission. On multivariate analysis, the SIIRI was an independent predictor of severe CAD with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 1.666 [1.376-2.017] per 105-unit increase. The SIIRI had the highest area under the receiver operator curve of .771 [.709-.833] compared to the SII, SIRI neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, monocyte-lymphocyte ratio, and platelet-lymphocyte ratio. The optimal cut-off for SIIRI was 4.3 × 105, with sensitivity = 69.9% and specificity = 75.8%. Increment in model performance resulting from adding SIIRI versus other inflammatory indices was assessed using discrimination, calibration, and goodness-of-fit measures. When added to a baseline model, the SIIRI resulted in a significant increase in the c-statistic and significant net reclassification index (.808, P < .0001) and integrated discrimination index (.129, P < .0001), and a decrease in Akaike and Bayesian information criteria.

The early predictive roles of NLR and NE% in in-hospital mortality of septic patients

Background

This study aimed to retrospectively investigate the early predictive value of inflammation-related parameters in-hospital mortality of septic patients.

Methods

We retrospectively recruited 606 patients from Wuhan Union Hospital from January 2009 to October 2022. The inflammation-related parameters including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), neutrophil percentage (NE%), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR) in survivals and non-survivals on day 1, 2, 3 and 7 after hospitalization were collected and analyzed.

Results

NLR and NE% in non-survivals (n = 185) were significantly higher than those in survivals (n = 421). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of NLR or NE% was 0.880 or 0.852 on day 1, 0.770 or 0.790 on day 2, 0.784 or 0.777 on day 3, and 0.732 or 0.741 on day 7. The optimal cut-off values of NLR or NE% for predicting in-hospital mortality were 10.769 or 87.70% on day 1, 17.544 or 90.69% on day 2, 14.395 or 85.00% on day 3, and 9.105 or 83.93% on day 7. The day 1, 2 and 3 NLR and NE% were significant predictors of in-hospital mortality in the Cox proportional hazards models.

Conclusions

NLR ≥10.769 and NE% ≥ 87.70% could be used early biomarkers for predicting in-hospital mortality of septic patients.

Association between preoperative systemic immune inflammation index and postoperative sepsis in patients with intestinal obstruction: A retrospective observational cohort study

BACKGROUND

Sepsis is a severe complication that results in increased morbidity and mortality after intestinal obstruction surgery. This study examined the role of preoperative systemic immune inflammation index (SII) for postoperative sepsis in intestinal obstruction patients.

METHODS

Data on patients who underwent intestinal obstruction surgery were collected. SII was determined and separated into two groups (≤1792.19 and >1792.19) according to the optimal cut-off value of SII for postoperative sepsis. The odds ratio (OR) is calculated for the correlation between SII and postoperative sepsis. Additional analyses were used to estimate the robustness of SII.

RESULTS

A total of 371 intestinal obstruction patients undergoing surgery were included in the final cohort, and 60 (16.17%) patients developed postoperative sepsis. Patients with an SII ＞1792.19 had a significantly higher risk for developing postoperative sepsis after multivariable adjustment [adjusted odds ratio = 2.12, 95% confidence interval: [1.02-4.40]]. The analysis of interaction showed no correlation between the preoperative SII and postoperative sepsis regarding age, hypertension, American Society of Anesthesiologists classification, blood loss, albumin, hemoglobin, creatinine, and leukocyte (all interactions p > .05). In subgroup analysis, all statistically significant subgroups showed that SII was a risk factor for postoperative sepsis (all p < .05). The analyses of subgroups and interactions revealed that the interaction effect of a preoperative SII ＞1792.19 and postoperative sepsis remained significant. A sensitivity analysis confirmed the robustness of the results.

CONCLUSIONS

A preoperative SII ＞ 1792.19 was a risk factor for postoperative sepsis in patients undergoing intestinal obstruction surgery.

Could Blood Cell-Based Inflammatory Markers Be Used to Monitor Response to Biologic Therapy in Psoriasis?

Objectives

Despite extensive research, there is currently no specific biomarker that reliably and universally indicates treatment response in psoriasis. Multiple studies have evaluated systemic inflammation markers, including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), and systemic immune response index (SIRI) in psoriasis patients. However, there are limited studies investigating changes in these markers with biologic therapy. The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of biologic therapy on parameters including NLR, PLR, MLR, SII, and SIRI in patients with psoriasis.

Methods

In this cohort study, we retrospectively evaluated 108 psoriasis patients who were on biological treatment, including interleukin (IL)17, IL23, and IL12/23 inhibitors, for a minimum of 12 weeks. We analyzed Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) scores, complete blood count parameters, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels both before and after 12 weeks of treatment.

Results

The NLR, PLR, MLR, SII, SIRI, and CRP values all demonstrated a significant decrease, regardless of the specific type of biologic agent (p=0.001, 0.007, 0.011, <0.001, <0.001 and <0.001, respectively). Furthermore, we observed a statistically significant but low correlation between the reduction in PASI scores and PLR, SII, and SIRI values (p=0.036, r=0.202; p=0.042, r=0.196; p=0.023, r=0.219, respectively).

Conclusion

The NLR, MLR, especially PLR, SII, and SIRI might be used as simple, convenient, and inexpensive laboratory markers to monitor the degree of inflammation and response to treatment after biologic therapy in daily practice.

The prognostic value of C-reactive protein to albumin ratio in patients with sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to determine whether the C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio (CAR) can serve as a prognostic marker in patients with sepsis.

METHODS

Chinese and English databases were searched to retrieve the included literature. The pooled sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and area under the curve (AUC) of the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) with their 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using the bivariate model. Moreover, the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CI were calculated using the random effect model.

RESULTS

Nine articles comprising 3224 patients with sepsis were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled SEN was 0.73 (95% CI 0.65-0.80), the pooled SPE was 0.78 (95% CI 0.69-0.84), the pooled PLR was 3.29 (95% CI 2.15-5.03), the pooled NLR was 0.35 (95% CI 0.24-0.49), and the pooled DOR was 9.50 (95% CI 4.38-20.59). The AUC under the SROC was 0.82 (95% CI 0.78-0.85) for the prognostic meta-analysis. The pooled HR was 1.10 (95% CI 1.02-1.18).

CONCLUSIONS

This meta-analysis suggests that a high CAR level is associated with increased mortality and a poor prognosis.

Association between admission systemic immune-inflammation index and mortality in critically ill patients with sepsis: a retrospective cohort study based on MIMIC-IV database

Systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) has been identified as a prognostic biomarker for various diseases. Our study aimed to investigate the association between SII and mortality risk in critically ill patients with sepsis, thus exploring possible tools for rapid screening. This retrospective cohort study was conducted using clinical data extracted from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care Database. The study included only patients diagnosed with sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit for the first time. We used the restricted cubic splines to explore the relationship between SII and 28-day mortality. Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox regression models were performed to evaluate the association between SII and mortality. Subgroup analysis was performed to explore the stability of the primary results. A total of 16,007 patients with sepsis were eligible in the final analysis. We found a J-shaped relationship between SII and mortality risk. The SII level associated with the lowest mortality risk was 774.46*109/L. Compared with the reference group (second SII quartile), the 28-day mortality was increased in the highest quartile and third quartile groups of SII levels; fully adjusted HRs were 1.16 (1.02 to 1.32) and 1.40 (1.23 to 1.58), respectively. However, although the lower SII (Q1 group) also showed a trend toward a higher hazard of 28-day mortality, there was no statistical difference, with a fully adjusted HR of 1.05 (0.92 to 1.21). In the population of critically ill patients with sepsis, low and high SII levels were associated with an increased risk of short-term mortality. The 28-day mortality risk was lowest at SII levels of 774.46*109/L.

Comparison of modified gunsight suture technique and traditional interrupted suture in enterostomy closure

BACKGROUND

Prophylactic enterostomy surgery is a common surgical approach used to reduce the risk of anastomotic leakage in patients who have undergone partial intestinal resection due to trauma or tumors. However, the traditional interrupted suturing technique used in enterostomy closure surgery has several issues, including longer surgical incisions and higher incision tension, which can increase the risk of postoperative complications. To address these issues, scholars have proposed the use of a "gunsight suture" technique. This technique involves using a gunsight incision instead of a traditional linear incision, leaving a gap in the center for the drainage of blood and fluid to reduce the risk of infection. Building on this technique, we propose an improved gunsight suture technique. A drainage tube is placed at the lowest point of the incision and close the gap in the center of the gunsight suture, which theoretically facilitates early postoperative mobility and reduces the burden of dressing changes, thereby reducing the risk of postoperative complications.

AIM

To compare the effectiveness of improved gunsight suture technique with traditional interrupted suture in closing intestinal stomas.

METHODS

In this study, a retrospective, single-center case analysis was conducted on 270 patients who underwent prophylactic ileostomy closure surgery at the Department of Colorectal Surgery of Qilu Hospital from April 2017 to December 2021. The patients were divided into two groups: 135 patients received sutures using the improved gunsight method, while the remaining 135 patients were sutured with the traditional interrupted suture method. We collected data on a variety of parameters, such as operation time, postoperative pain score, body temperature, length of hospital stays, laboratory indicators, incidence of incisional complications, number of wound dressing changes, and hospitalization costs. Non-parametric tests and chi-square tests were utilized for data analysis.

RESULTS

There were no statistically significant differences in general patient information between the two groups, including the interval between the first surgery and the stoma closure [132 (105, 184) d vs 134 (109, 181) d, P = 0.63], gender ratio (0.64 vs 0.69, P = 0.44), age [62 (52, 68) years vs 60 (52, 68) years, P = 0.33], preoperative body mass index (BMI) [23.83 (21.60, 25.95) kg/m² vs 23.12 (20.94, 25.06) kg/m², P = 0.17]. The incidence of incision infection in the improved gunsight suture group tended to be lower than that in the traditional interrupted suture group [ (n = 2/135, 1.4%) vs (n = 10/135, 7.4%), P < 0.05], and the postoperative hospital stay in the improved gunsight suture group was significantly shorter than that in the traditional interrupted suture group [5 (4, 7) d vs 7 (6, 8) d, P < 0.05]. Additionally, the surgical cost in the modified gunsight suture group was slightly lower than that in the traditional suture group [4840 (4330, 5138) yuan vs 4980 (4726, 5221) yuan, P > 0.05], but there was no significant difference in the total hospitalization cost between the two groups.

CONCLUSION

In stoma closure surgery, the improved gunsight technique can reduce the incision infection rate, shorten the postoperative hospital stay, reduce wound tension, and provide better wound cosmetic effects compared to traditional interrupted suture.

Low-molecular-weight heparin therapy reduces 28-day mortality in patients with sepsis-3 by improving inflammation and coagulopathy

Background and aim

Sepsis is a syndromic response to infection and is associated with high mortality, thus imposing a significant global burden of disease. Although low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) has been recommended to prevent venous thromboembolism, its anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory effects in sepsis remain controversial. Owing to the modification of the Sepsis-3 definition and diagnostic criteria, further evaluation of the efficacy and benefit population of LMWH is required.

Methods

We performed a retrospective cohort study to assess whether LMWH improved the inflammation, coagulopathy, and clinical outcomes against Sepsis-3 and to identify the target patients. All patients diagnosed with sepsis at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University (the largest general hospital in northwest China) from January 2016 to December 2020 were recruited and re-evaluated using Sepsis-3 criteria.

Results

After 1:1 propensity score matching, 88 pairs of patients were categorized into the treatment and control groups based on subcutaneous LMWH administration. Compared with the control group, a significantly lower 28-day mortality was observed in the LMWH group (26.1 vs. 42.0%, p = 0.026) with a comparable incidence of major bleeding events (6.8 vs. 8.0%, p = 0.773). Cox regression analysis showed that LMWH administration was the independent protective factor for septic patients (aHR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.29-0.81; p = 0.006). Correspondingly, the LMWH treatment group showed a significant improvement in inflammation and coagulopathy. Further subgroup analysis showed that LMWH therapy was associated with favorable outcomes in patients younger than 60 years and diagnosed with sepsis-induced coagulopathy (SIC), ISTH overt DIC, non-septic shock, or non-diabetics and in patients included in the moderate-risk group (APACHE II score 20-35 or SOFA score 8-12).

Conclusion

Our study results showed that LMWH improves 28-day mortality by improving inflammatory response and coagulopathy in patients meeting Sepsis-3 criteria. The SIC and ISTH overt DIC scoring systems can better identify septic patients who are likely to benefit more from LMWH administration.