Dear Editor,
We have read a review titled “B-type natriuretic peptides for the prediction of cardiovascular events and mortality in patients living with HIV: Results from the HIV-HEART study.” written by Reinsch and his colleagues [1]. This paper indicated that BNP was positive correlation with the incidence of cardiovascular events and mortality in HIV-infected patients. Hence, BNP may be induced by viral infection and could be an indicator for monitoring patients' condition after viral infection.
In December 2019, SARS-CoV-2-infected disease 2019(COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, China [2]. However, little data are available to describe the disease pathogenesis, and no pharmacological therapies of proven efficacy yet exist now [3]. Based on our recent experts clinical experience on COVID-19, we found some early-onset COVID-19 patients were not very dangerous in the early stage, but the patient's condition may deteriorate suddenly and enter a statge of multiple organs failure caused by a storm of inflammation [4]. Meanwhile, we also observed that high BNP was significantly associated with acute respiratory symptoms and respiratory failure, which may be an indicator of COVID-19 patient's condition deterioration. Hence, we strongly recommend more clinical warning indicators such as BNP should be explored for the early identification of COVID-19 critically ill patients, and take more effective and normative approaches to reduce the conversion from mild to severe patients at an earlier stage.
Declaration of competing interest
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Acknowledgements
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References
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