Tools for predicting COVID-19 outcomes enable personalized healthcare, potentially easing the disease burden. This collaborative study by 15 institutions across Europe aimed to develop a machine learning model for predicting the risk of in-hospital mortality post-SARS-CoV-2 infection. Blood samples and clinical data from 1286 COVID-19 patients collected from 2020 to 2023 across four cohorts in Europe and Canada were analyzed, with 2906 long non-coding RNAs profiled using targeted sequencing. From a discovery cohort combining three European cohorts and 804 patients, age and the long non-coding RNA LEF1-AS1 were identified as predictive features, yielding an AUC of 0.83 (95% CI 0.82-0.84) and a balanced accuracy of 0.78 (95% CI 0.77-0.79) with a feedforward neural network classifier. Validation in an independent Canadian cohort of 482 patients showed consistent performance. Cox regression analysis indicated that higher levels of LEF1-AS1 correlated with reduced mortality risk (age-adjusted hazard ratio 0.54, 95% CI 0.40-0.74). Quantitative PCR validated LEF1-AS1's adaptability to be measured in hospital settings. Here, we demonstrate a promising predictive model for enhancing COVID-19 patient management.
GrantsNIHR Biomedical Research Center at Imperial College London Liverpool Experimental Cancer Medicine Center PHE NIHR HPRU in Respiratory Infections at Imperial College London Public Health England (PHE) NIHR Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections at University of Liverpool Medical Research Council (MRC) National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) Bavarian Ministry of Research and Art German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) Andre Losch Foundation Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) (Predi-COVID) Fonds de recherche du Quebec - Sante Genome Quebec
Italian Ministry of Health Heart Foundation-Daniel Wagner of Luxembourg Ministry of Higher Education and Research -2021-00013] National Research Fund National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH) of Hungary National Research Development and Innovation Fund European Union Ministry for Innovation and Technology Ministere de la Sante et des Services Sociaux Public Health Agency of Canada EU Horizon 2020 project COVIRNA