FIGURE 1.

Plasma levels of VIP are elevated in patients with severe forms of COVID‐19 and associates with reduced levels of inflammatory markers and with survival. The levels of VIP (A) in the plasma of SARS‐CoV‐2‐negative control participants, SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive asymptomatic subjects, or symptomatic patients presenting mild to severe COVID‐19 were quantified by ELISA. Correlation between levels of VIP and viral load (B) or inflammation markers (C–I). Severe COVID‐19 patients admitted to the ICU were subdivided between those requiring invasive mechanical ventilation or noninvasive O₂ supplementation (J) and according to the 28‐day mortality outcome as survivors or non survivors (K). Linear regression (with the 95% confidence interval) and Spearman's correlation were calculated according to the distribution of the data. Dots represent: controls, grey; asymptomatic, blue; mild, brown; severe, red. The horizontal lines in the box plots represent the median, the box edges represent the interquartile ranges, and the whiskers indicate the minimal and maximal value in each group. *p ≤ 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01; ns, not significant