Cell fitness has been identified as a way of predicting health outcomes in COVID-19 patients, according to a University of Queensland study.

The study investigated a cellular fitness marker, known as hfwe-Lose, to identify sub-optimal cells in patients who had been hospitalised or died from COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic.

The Australian researchers conducted post-mortem analysis on COVID-19 infected lung tissues and found that the cell fitness marker influenced a person’s immune response to infection.

“More importantly, we also found that the cell fitness marker outperformed conventional methods, such as age, inflammation and co-existing diseases, in predicting health outcomes, such as hospitalisation and death, in COVID-19 patients”, said the researchers.

The study findings might be useful in the early triage of patients who test positive for COVID-19 as the cell fitness marker could be identified via a simple nasal swab.

The research group is now looking to validate our findings in larger patient populations to determine the robustness of the marker.