Metabolie alkalosis in hospitalised COVID-19 patients: A window to the pathogenesis?

摘要

To the Editor: South Africa has documented 600 000 confirmedCOVID-19 cases within the 6 months since notification of the firstcase.[1] During this influx of COVID-19 patients, we have observed anunder-reported finding on the arterial blood gas of some hospitalisedpatients, namely metabolic alkalosis with or without hypoxaemia.No known causes of alkalosis were present in these patients, and asit was clinically associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, the findingsoon became known as the ‘COVID gas’ among frontline clinicians.We conducted a prospective cohort study to determine theprevalence and significance of otherwise unexplained metabolicalkalosis in 255 consecutive patients admitted with suspectedCOVID-19. Standard bicarbonate (sHCO3) was used as a marker forthe metabolic component.