Erben Y, Prudencio M, Marquez CP, Jansen-West KR, Heckman MG, White LJ, Dunmore JA, Cook CN, Lilley MT, Qosja N, Song Y, Hanna Al Shaikh R, Daughrity LM, Bartfield JL, Day GS, Oskarsson B, Nicholson KA, Wszolek ZK, Hoyne JB, Gendron TF, Meschia JF, and Petrucelli L
Blood neurofilament light chain (NFL) is proposed to serve as an estimate of disease severity in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We show that NFL concentrations in plasma collected from 880 patients with COVID-19 within 5 days of hospital admission were elevated compared to controls. Higher plasma NFL associated with worse clinical outcomes including the need for mechanical ventilation, intensive care, prolonged hospitalization, and greater functional disability at discharge. No difference in the studied clinical outcomes between black/African American and white patients was found. Finally, vaccination associated with less disability at time of hospital discharge. In aggregate, our findings support the utility of measuring NFL shortly after hospital admission to estimate disease severity and show that race does not influence clinical outcomes caused by COVID-19 assuming equivalent access to care, and that vaccination may lessen the degree of COVID-19-caused disability., Competing Interests: B.O. has consulted for Biogen, MediciNova, Mitsubishi, Amylyx, and Tsumura. K.A.N. has performed consulting for Alector, AI Therapeutics, Biogen, MT Pharma, Avanir Pharmaceuticals, and Biohaven. J.B.H. is the CLIA director for the Lung Bioengineering facility at Mayo Clinic Florida campus, a non-Mayo corporation. Z.K.W. also serves as PI or Co-PI on Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BHV4157-206 and BHV3241-301), Neuraly, Inc. (NLY01-PD-1), and Vigil Neuroscience, Inc. (VGL101-01.001 and VGL101-01.002) grants; as well as a Co-PI of the Mayo Clinic APDA Center for Advanced Research and as an external advisory board member for the Vigil Neuroscience, Inc. L.P. is a consultant for Expansion Therapeutics. The other authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2022 The Author(s).)