IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i4p2987-d1061980.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inflammatory Biomarkers Differ among Hospitalized Veterans Infected with Alpha, Delta, and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 Variants

Author

Listed:
  • Catherine Park

    (VA’s Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D), Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
    Big Data Scientist Training Enhancement Program, VA Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC 20420, USA
    VA Quality Scholars Coordinating Center, IQuESt, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA)

  • Shahriar Tavakoli-Tabasi

    (Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA)

  • Amir Sharafkhaneh

    (VA’s Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D), Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
    Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA)

  • Benjamin J. Seligman

    (David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA)

  • Bret Hicken

    (VHA Office of Rural Health, Veterans Rural Health Resource Center, Salt Lake City, UT 84148, USA
    George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salt Lake City, UT 84148, USA)

  • Christopher I. Amos

    (Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA)

  • Andrew Chou

    (VA’s Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D), Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
    Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA)

  • Javad Razjouyan

    (VA’s Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D), Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
    Big Data Scientist Training Enhancement Program, VA Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC 20420, USA
    VA Quality Scholars Coordinating Center, IQuESt, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
    Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA)

Abstract

Mortality due to COVID-19 has been correlated with laboratory markers of inflammation, such as C-reactive protein (CRP). The lower mortality during Omicron variant infections could be explained by variant-specific immune responses or host factors, such as vaccination status. We hypothesized that infections due to Omicron variant cause less inflammation compared to Alpha and Delta, correlating with lower mortality. This was a retrospective cohort study of veterans hospitalized for COVID-19 at the Veterans Health Administration. We compared inflammatory markers among patients hospitalized during Omicron infection with those of Alpha and Delta. We reported the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of the first laboratory results during hospitalization and in-hospital mortality, stratified by vaccination status. Of 2,075,564 Veterans tested for COVID-19, 29,075 Veterans met the criteria: Alpha (45.1%), Delta (23.9%), Omicron (31.0%). Odds of abnormal CRP in Delta (aOR = 1.85, 95% CI:1.64–2.09) and Alpha (aOR = 1.94, 95% CI:1.75–2.15) were significantly higher compared to Omicron. The same trend was observed for Ferritin, Alanine aminotransferase, Aspartate aminotransferase, Lactate dehydrogenase, and Albumin. The mortality in Delta (aOR = 1.92, 95% CI:1.73–2.12) and Alpha (aOR = 1.68, 95% CI:1.47–1.91) were higher than Omicron. The results remained significant after stratifying the outcomes based on vaccination status. Veterans infected with Omicron showed milder inflammatory responses and lower mortality than other variants.

Suggested Citation

  • Catherine Park & Shahriar Tavakoli-Tabasi & Amir Sharafkhaneh & Benjamin J. Seligman & Bret Hicken & Christopher I. Amos & Andrew Chou & Javad Razjouyan, 2023. "Inflammatory Biomarkers Differ among Hospitalized Veterans Infected with Alpha, Delta, and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 Variants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-11, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:2987-:d:1061980
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/2987/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/2987/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenrie P. Y. Hui & John C. W. Ho & Man-chun Cheung & Ka-chun Ng & Rachel H. H. Ching & Ka-ling Lai & Tonia Tong Kam & Haogao Gu & Ko-Yung Sit & Michael K. Y. Hsin & Timmy W. K. Au & Leo L. M. Poon & M, 2022. "SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant replication in human bronchus and lung ex vivo," Nature, Nature, vol. 603(7902), pages 715-720, March.
    2. Heidi Ledford, 2021. "How severe are Omicron infections?," Nature, Nature, vol. 600(7890), pages 577-578, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Feng, Jingxue & Wang, Liangliang, 2024. "A switching state-space transmission model for tracking epidemics and assessing interventions," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    2. Fanglei Zuo & Hassan Abolhassani & Likun Du & Antonio Piralla & Federico Bertoglio & Leire Campos-Mata & Hui Wan & Maren Schubert & Irene Cassaniti & Yating Wang & Josè Camilla Sammartino & Rui Sun & , 2022. "Heterologous immunization with inactivated vaccine followed by mRNA-booster elicits strong immunity against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Han, Lili & Song, Sha & Pan, Qiuhui & He, Mingfeng, 2023. "The impact of multiple population-wide testing and social distancing on the transmission of an infectious disease," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 630(C).
    4. Sabrina Semeraro & Anastasia Serena Gaetano & Luisa Zupin & Carlo Poloni & Elvio Merlach & Enrico Greco & Sabina Licen & Francesco Fontana & Silvana Leo & Alessandro Miani & Francesco Broccolo & Pierl, 2022. "Operative Protocol for Testing the Efficacy of Nasal Filters in Preventing Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-12, October.
    5. Nicolas Prost & Etienne Audureau & Nicholas Heming & Elyanne Gault & Tài Pham & Amal Chaghouri & Nina Montmollin & Guillaume Voiriot & Laurence Morand-Joubert & Adrien Joseph & Marie-Laure Chaix & Séb, 2022. "Clinical phenotypes and outcomes associated with SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron in critically ill French patients with COVID-19," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:2987-:d:1061980. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.