TY - JOUR
T1 - How to Synchronize Longitudinal Patient Data With the Underlying Disease Progression: A Pilot Study Using the Biomarker CRP for Timing COVID-19
AU - Maibach, Martina A.
AU - The CoViD-19 ICU-Research Group Zurich
AU - Allam, Ahmed
AU - Hilty, Matthias P.
AU - Perez Gonzalez, Nicolas A.
AU - Buehler, Philipp K.
AU - Wendel Garcia, Pedro D.
AU - The RISC-19-ICU Investigators
AU - Brugger, Silvio D.
AU - Ganter, Christoph C.
AU - Krauthammer, Michael
AU - Schuepbach, Reto A.
AU - Bartussek, Jan
N1 - Funding Information: We thank Catharina Wolfensberger, Patrick Hirschi, the RDSC and the PDMS group of the University Hospital Zurich for their continued support. We further thank all the public health and essential workers as well as researchers for their efforts in the battle against SARS-CoV-2. This manuscript has been released as a pre-print at MedRxiv (19). Funding. This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant 320030_201184 to MK) and from non-restricted grants to RS. Funding Information: This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant 320030_201184 to MK) and from nonrestricted grants to RS. Publisher Copyright: © Copyright © 2021 Maibach, Allam, Hilty, Perez Gonzalez, Buehler, Wendel Garcia, Brugger, Ganter, The CoViD-19 ICU-Research Group Zurich, The RISC-19-ICU Investigators, Krauthammer, Schuepbach and Bartussek.
PY - 2021/7/8
Y1 - 2021/7/8
N2 - The continued digitalization of medicine has led to an increased availability of longitudinal patient data that allows the investigation of novel and known diseases in unprecedented detail. However, to accurately describe any underlying pathophysiology and allow inter-patient comparisons, individual patient trajectories have to be synchronized based on temporal markers. In this pilot study, we use longitudinal data from critically ill ICU COVID-19 patients to compare the commonly used alignment markers “onset of symptoms,” “hospital admission,” and “ICU admission” with a novel objective method based on the peak value of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP). By applying our CRP-based method to align the progression of neutrophils and lymphocytes, we were able to define a pathophysiological window that improved mortality risk stratification in our COVID-19 patient cohort. Our data highlights that proper synchronization of longitudinal patient data is crucial for accurate interpatient comparisons and the definition of relevant subgroups. The use of objective temporal disease markers will facilitate both translational research efforts and multicenter trials.
AB - The continued digitalization of medicine has led to an increased availability of longitudinal patient data that allows the investigation of novel and known diseases in unprecedented detail. However, to accurately describe any underlying pathophysiology and allow inter-patient comparisons, individual patient trajectories have to be synchronized based on temporal markers. In this pilot study, we use longitudinal data from critically ill ICU COVID-19 patients to compare the commonly used alignment markers “onset of symptoms,” “hospital admission,” and “ICU admission” with a novel objective method based on the peak value of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP). By applying our CRP-based method to align the progression of neutrophils and lymphocytes, we were able to define a pathophysiological window that improved mortality risk stratification in our COVID-19 patient cohort. Our data highlights that proper synchronization of longitudinal patient data is crucial for accurate interpatient comparisons and the definition of relevant subgroups. The use of objective temporal disease markers will facilitate both translational research efforts and multicenter trials.
KW - COVID-19
KW - biomarker
KW - digitalization
KW - longitudinal data
KW - patient trajectories
KW - risk stratification
KW - subgroup comparison
KW - synchronization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111045229&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.607594
DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.607594
M3 - Article
C2 - 34307391
SN - 2296-858X
VL - 8
JO - Frontiers in Medicine
JF - Frontiers in Medicine
M1 - 607594
ER -