Background In COVID-19 patients the progressive clinical deterioration seems secondary to the activation of a cytokine storm. Ferritin is considered a direct mediator of the immune system and some evidences suggested a shared physio-pathogenic basis between COVID-19 and ‘Hyperferritinemic Syndromes.’ The aim of our study was to evaluate the prognostic role of ferritin in COVID-19 patients. Methods We retrospectively studied consecutive COVID-19 patients admitted to four Italian Internal Medicine Units. Role of potential prognostic markers was evaluated with binary logistic regression analysis and results were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Poor outcome was defined as death or need to transfer in the intensive care unit. Results Two hundred patients were included (mean age 68.75 ± 13.22 years). Ferritin value was highly elevated (>3000 ng/mL) in 8% of our population; 13% of patients were transferred to intensive care units and 12% of patients died. At multivariate analysis, highly elevated ferritin levels (OR 16.67 C.I. 4.89–57.57 p < 0.001) and hemoglobin < 10 g/dL (OR 8.88 C.I. 2.02–39.09 p = 0.004) were independently associated with a bad outcome. Patients with ferritin values > 3000 ng/ml appeared to have an inflammatory activation with elevated values of CRP and D-dimer and low values of lymphocyte count. Conclusion Our results confirm the prognostic role of ferritin in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Patients with high ferritin levels should be considered critically ill and treated in an adequate setting. Furthermore, COVID-19 seems to share some characteristics with hyperferritinemic syndromes with potential therapeutic implications.

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Background: Multi-drug resistant organisms (MDRO) are an emerging health problem with an important impact on clinical outcome in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and immunocompromised patients. Conversely, the role of MDRO colonization in Internal Medicine is less clear. The objective of our study is to evaluate the clinical impact (namely sepsis development, in-hospital and 30-days mortality, and re-hospitalization) of MDRO colonization in Internal Medicine. Methods: Patients admitted to our Internal Medicine Unit between January 2019 and March 2020 were potentially includible. Outcomes in patients with a positive rectal swab for MDRO (RS+) and in patients without a RS+ were compared. Results of the multivariate analyses were expressed as Odds Ratios (ORs) and the corresponding 95% Confidence Interval (CI). Results: In a cohort of 2147 patients, 77 patients with RS+ were consecutively identified; 377 patients with a rectal swab negative for MDRO were randomly selected from the same cohort (five for each patient with RS+). At the multivariate analysis, RS+ was associated with an increased risk of sepsis development during hospitalization (OR 4.18; 95% CI, 1.99–8.78) and with death or re-hospitalization at 30 days (OR 4.79; 95% CI, 2.79–8.23), whereas RS+ did not appear to be associated with death during hospitalization or need for ICU transfer. Conclusions: Our results suggest for the first time a prognostic role for RS+ in Internal Medicine. Thus, assessment of rectal swab at hospital admission appears useful even in this setting. However, larger prospective studies and a cost–benefit analysis are needed to confirm our preliminary findings.

Acute pancreatitis, the most frequent hospitalization reason in internal medicine ward among gastrointestinal diseases, is burdened by high mortality rate. The disease manifests mainly in a mild form, but about 20-30% patients have a severe progress that requires intensive care. Patients presenting with acute pancreatitis should be clinically evaluated for organ failure signs and symptoms. Stratifying patients in the first days from symptoms onset is essential to determine therapy and care setting. The aim of our study is to evaluate prognostic factors for acute pancreatitis patients, hospitalized in internal medicine wards, and moreover, understanding the role of various prognostic scores validated in intensive care setting in predicting in-hospital mortality and/or admission to intensive care unit. We conducted a retrospective study enrolling all patients with diagnosis of acute pancreatitis admitted took an internal medicine ward between January 2013 and May 2019. Adverse outcome was considered in-hospital mortality and/or admission to intensive care unit. In total, 146 patients (137 with positive outcome and 9 with adverse outcome) were enrolled. The median age was (67.89 ± 16.44), with a slight prevalence of male (55.1%) compared to female (44.9%). C protein reactive (p = 0.02), creatinine (p = 0.01), sodium (p = 0.05), and troponin I (p = 0.013) after 48 h were significantly increased in patients with adverse outcome. In our study, progression in SOFA score independently increases the probability of adverse outcome in patients hospitalized with acute pancreatitis. SOFA score > 5 is highly predictive of in-hospital mortality (O.R. 32.00; C.I. 6.73-152.5; p = 0.001) compared to other scores. The use of an easy tool, validated in intensive care setting such as SOFA score, might help to better stratify the risk of in-hospital mortality and/or clinical worsening in patients hospitalized with acute pancreatitis in internal medicine ward.