Baseline univariate predictors of clinical improvement in patients treated with sarilumab
| Improved (n=17) | Not-improved (n=11) | P value | |
| Age (years) | 56 (48–57) | 56 (49–69) | 0.36 |
| Sex (male/female) | 15/2 | 9/2 | 0.99 |
| Time to sarilumab (days) | 10 (9–11) | 9 (8–10) | 0.17 |
| Non-invasive mechanical ventilation, n (%) | 11 (65) | 11 (100) | 0.06 |
| Coexisting conditions, n (%) | |||
| Arterial hypertension | 2 | 4 | 0.17 |
| Tobacco smoking | 2 | 3 | 0.35 |
| Dislipidaemia | 3 | 1 | 0.99 |
| Coronary artery disease | 2 | 0 | 0.51 |
| Type 2 diabetes | 1 | 2 | 0.54 |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 1 | 0 | 0.99 |
| Chronic renal failure | 0 | 1 | 0.99 |
| PaO2/FiO2 ratio (mm Hg) | 112 (84–138) | 81 (50–104) | 0.002 |
| Axillary temperature, °C | 38 (37.7–38.2) | 38 (37.5–38.0) | 0.61 |
| Laboratory values | |||
| CRP (normal <6 mg/L) | 154 (110–256) | 122 (100–329) | 0.86 |
| Ferritin (normal 30–400 ng/mL) | 1849 (1006–5333) | 1737 (931–4570) | 0.89 |
| LDH (normal 125–220 IU/L) | 456 (394–539) | 429 (409–608) | 0.31 |
| IL-6 (normal <7 pg/mL) | 58 (28–113) | 99 (37–130) | 0.03 |
| AST (normal 5–35 IU/L) | 55 (36–77) | 63 (46–84) | 0.37 |
| ALT (normal 6–59 IU/L) | 47 (34–72) | 47 (31–74) | 0.21 |
| Creatine kinase (normal 20–195 IU/L) | 141 (67–352) | 115 (56–183) | 0.51 |
| D-dimer (normal 0.27–0.77 µg/mL) | 1.08 (0.54–1.71) | 1.2 (0.81–2.3) | 0.25 |
| Platelets (normal 130–400 cells/µL) | 257 (192–307) | 254 (167–557) | 0.75 |
| Lymphocytes (normal 1000–4800 cells/µL) | 1000 (700–1250) | 900 (600–1000) | 0.43 |
| Neutrophils (normal 1800–7000 cells/µL) | 6300 (4500–16500) | 6700 (3500–8600) | 0.99 |
| Radiological features* | |||
| Consolidation (cc) | 348 (264–566) | 1034 (745–1422) | 0.002 |
| Consolidation (%) | 10.7 (6–19.7) | 34.9 (20.1–45.9) | 0.013 |
| Ground glass (cc) | 1218 (906–1580) | 1098 (1004–1232) | 0.64 |
| Ground glass (%) | 33.7 (30–49.4) | 34.5 (30.6–40.3) | 0.98 |
| Unaffected lung (cc) | 1875 (846–3070) | 908 (436–1551) | 0.12 |
| Unaffected lung (%) | 55.6 (27–61) | 27.9 (16–46.3) | 0.06 |
Variables associated with clinical improvement (defined as discharge from hospital or two points improvement from baseline on the six-category ordinal scale) at 28 days in patients treated with sarilumab were studied by univariate analysis. Continuous data are reported as median (IQR). Categorical data are reported as number of patients (n) and percentage (%). A p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
*CT scan was performed at baseline in n=13 patients who improved after sarilumab, in n=7 patients who did not improve, in n=18 patients who survived at 28-day follow-up, and in the n=2 patients who died.
ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; CRP, C-reactive protein; IL-6, interleukin 6; LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; PaO2/FiO2 ratio, partial pressure of arterial oxygen/fraction of inspired oxygen ratio.