TABLE 1.
Baseline characteristics according to Lung ultrasound Zaragoza (LUZ)-score at baseline (tertiles)
| Total | LUZ-score | p-value | |||
| <13 | 13–26 | >26 | |||
| Total sample | 130 | 32 (24.6) | 69 (53.1) | 29 (22.3) | |
| Age years | 56.7±13.5 | 54.0±13.2 | 56.3±14.7 | 60.5±10.0 | 0.173 |
| Male n (%) | 80 (61.5) | 20 (62.5) | 43 (62.3) | 17 (58.6) | 0.935 |
| Duration of symptoms days | 6 (5) | 4.0 (5.0) | 6.0 (3.0) | 8.0 (5) | 0.003 |
| Time until COVID-19 confirmation days | −2 (6) | −1.5 (7) | −2.0 (6) | −3.0 (6) | 0.315 |
| Comorbidities n (%) | |||||
| Hypertension | 50 (38.5) | 11 (34.4) | 24 (34.8) | 15 (51.7) | 0.250 |
| Heart failure | 4 (3.1) | 2 (6.3) | 2 (2.9) | 0 (0.0) | 0.366 |
| Dyslipidaemia | 37 (28.5) | 11 (34.4) | 15 (21.7) | 11 (37.9) | 0.187 |
| Coronary artery disease | 5 (3.8) | 2 (6.3) | 2 (2.9) | 1 (3.4) | 0.712 |
| Diabetes | 22 (16.9) | 5 (15.6) | 9 (13.0) | 8 (27.6) | 0.210 |
| History of smoking | 40 (30.8) | 8 (25.0) | 21 (30.4) | 11 (37.9) | 0.548 |
| COPD/asthma | 13 (10.0) | 5 (15.6) | 6 (8.7) | 2 (6.9) | 0.457 |
| Atrial flutter/fibrillation | 5 (3.8) | 3 (9.4) | 1 (1.4) | 1 (3.4) | 0.155 |
| CKD | 6 (4.6) | 2 (6.3) | 2 (2.9) | 2 (1.5) | 0.607 |
| Clinical variables | |||||
| BMI kg·m−2 | 28.7 (6.2) | 29.0 (5.4) | 28.8 (7.4) | 28.3 (6.0) | 0.625 |
| SBP mmHg | 126.8±16.5 | 129.7±15.9 | 125.2±16.0 | 128.1±14.7 | 0.731 |
| DBP mmHg | 77.2±10.8 | 75.7±12.9 | 76.8±9.8 | 79.5±8.5 | 0.315 |
| Heart rate beats·min−1 | 81.4±2.2 | 80.6±15.6 | 80.7±11.6 | 84.8±9.9 | 0.217 |
| ePAFI mmHg | 382 (92) | 429 (0) | 355 (93) | 346 (73) | <0.001 |
| Borg scale for dyspnoea | 4 (5) | 3 (5) | 4 (6) | 5 (4) | 0.031 |
| Laboratory | |||||
| Urea mg·dL−1 | 34 (20) | 34.5 (23.5) | 33.0 (20.5) | 35.0 (16.0) | 0.448 |
| Creatinine mg·dL−1 | 0.9 (0.29) | 0.97 (0.18) | 0.88 (0.31) | 0.89 (0.30) | 0.241 |
| Aspartate transaminase U·L−1 | 38 (25) | 30 (16) | 39 (26) | 43 (22) | 0.044 |
| Alanine transaminase U·L−1 | 30 (29) | 34 (24) | 30 (33) | 30 (37) | 0.816 |
| Creatine phosphokinase U·L−1 | 94 (91) | 131 (110) | 89 (86) | 83 (64) | 0.460 |
| Lactate dehydrogenase U·L−1 | 306 (146) | 254 (109) | 307 (166) | 394 (183) | <0.001 |
| C-reactive protein mg·L−1 | 64.2 (81.2) | 36.7 (58.8) | 67.5 (75.5) | 86.8 (104.9) | 0.013 |
| Ferritin ng·mL−1 | 729 (855) | 737 (721) | 670 (770) | 954 (1414) | 0.248 |
| Haemoglobin g·dL−1 | 14.2 (2.1) | 14.2 (2.0) | 14.1 (2.4) | 14.1 (1.9) | 0.275 |
| Total leukocytes ×1000 | 5.5 (3.1) | 5.7 (3.8) | 5.9 (3.2) | 5.0 (3.1) | 0.479 |
| Total lymphocytes ×1000 | 0.9 (0.6) | 0.9 (0.7) | 1.0 (0.6) | 0.8 (0.6) | 0.250 |
| D-dimer ng·mL−1 | 731 (661) | 739 (903) | 658 (654) | 891 (743) | 0.037 |
| Fibrinogen mg·dL−1 | 777 (213) | 723 (207) | 793 (220) | 785 (231) | 0.182 |
| Interleukin-6 pg·mL−1 | 42.34 (26.6) | 25.4 (22.5) | 45.4 (28.0) | 46.4 (46.9) | <0.001 |
| Therapies n (%) | |||||
| Colchicine | 8 (6.2) | 2 (6.3) | 4 (5.8) | 2 (6.9) | 0.979 |
| Plasma | 1 (0.8) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.4) | 0 (0.0) | 0.641 |
| Remdesivir | 45 (34.6) | 4 (12.5) | 28 (40.6) | 13 (44.8) | 0.009 |
| Systemic corticosteroids | 99 (76.2) | 17 (53.1) | 55 (79.7) | 27 (93.1) | 0.001 |
| Medium dose of corticosteroids (dexamethasone mg) | 6 (3) | 6 (1) | 6 (3) | 6 (3) | 0.596 |
| Low-molecular-weight heparin | 124 (95.4) | 28 (87.5) | 67 (97.1) | 28 (96.6) | 0.044 |
Data are presented as n, mean±sd or median (interquartile range), unless otherwise stated. Bold type represents statistical significance. COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019; CKD: chronic kidney disease (estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL·min−1·1.73 m2 using the CKD Epidemiology Collaboration creatinine method); BMI: body mass index; SBP: systolic blood pressure; DBP: diastolic blood pressure; ePAFI: estimated arterial oxygen tension/inspiratory oxygen fraction ratio.