Sara LaHue MD, recently published a study entitled, "Delirium in hospitalized COVID-19 patients is associated with dynamic changes in peripheral immune gene expression," GeroScience.

About the study:
Peripheral inflammation is a key trigger of delirium, but the patient-specific immune responses that drive delirium onset and recovery remain poorly understood. This retrospective cohort study of prospectively collected biospecimens examines RNA sequencing from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of adults hospitalized for COVID-19 (N = 64, up to 5 serial samples over 28 hospital days per subject). Longitudinal transcriptomic analyses highlight persistent immune dysregulation in delirium, and delirium resolution was characterized by normalization of key transcripts. These findings provide novel mechanistic insights with translational relevance for immunomodulatory strategies targeting maladaptive immune responses to prevent or treat delirium in medically ill populations.

Dr. LaHue is affiliated with the Weill Institute for Neurosciences, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco.

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