Abstract:Objective To investigate the correlation and predictive value of serum chitinase-3-like protein 1 (YKL-40) and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), and plasma thrombomodulin (PTM) with and for catheter-related infection in uremic patients undergoing hemodialysis.Methods The clinical data of 150 uremic patients undergoing hemodialysis admitted to our hospital from June 2021 to June 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. According to whether the patients had catheter-related infection, they were divided into infection group (n = 36) and non-infection group (n = 114). The clinical data including sex, age, body mass index (BMI), duration of uremia, time to hemodialysis, place of residence, number of intubation, duration of catheterization, location of catheterization, and the history of diabetes mellitus and hypertension were compared between the two groups. The levels of hemoglobin (Hb), ferritin (SF), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), YKL-40, NGAL and PTM were detected. Multivariable Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the risk factors of catheter-related infection in uremic patients undergoing hemodialysis. The efficacy of the catheter-related infection model in predicting catheter-related infection in uremic patients undergoing hemodialysis was analyzed via the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.Results There was no difference in the sex composition, BMI, duration of uremia, time to hemodialysis, place of residence, number of intubation, the history of hypertension, and the levels of Hb, SF, TC, TG, HDL-C, and LDL-C between the infection group and the non-infection group (P > 0.05). The infection group had a higher proportion of patients with the age ≥ 60 years old, the duration of catheterization ≥ 4 d, femoral veinous catheterization and history of diabetes mellitus relative to the non-infection group, and the levels of YKL-40, NGAL and PTM were higher in the infection group than those in the non-infection group (P < 0.05). The ROC curve analysis revealed that the areas under the ROC curves of YKL-40, NGAL and PTM for predicting the catheter-related infection in uremic patients undergoing hemodialysis were 0.821, 0.874 and 0.853, with the cut-off values being 45.705 ng/mL, 69.390 ng/mL and 34.845 ng/L, the sensitivities being 72.2%, 80.6% and 77.8%, and the specificities being 78.1%, 90.4% and 86.0%, respectively (P < 0.05). The multivariable Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that age ≥ 60 years old [O^R = 2.189 (95% CI: 1.211, 3.957) ], duration of catheterization ≥ 4 days [O^R = 3.276 (95% CI: 1.408, 7.622) ], femoral veinous catheterization [O^R = 3.007 (95% CI: 1.285, 7.037) ], history of diabetes mellitus [O^R = 2.343 (95% CI: 1.305, 4.207) ], the level of YKL-40 ≥ 45.705 ng/mL [O^R = 1.967 (95% CI: 1.174, 3.296) ], the level of NGAL ≥ 69.390 ng/mL [O^R = 2.259 (95% CI: 1.318, 3.872) ], and the level of PTM ≥ 34.845 ng/L [O^R = 2.070 (95% CI: 1.229, 3.486) ] were risk factors for catheter-related infection in uremic patients undergoing hemodialysis (P < 0.05). The prediction model of catheter-related infection was established according to the multivariable Logistic regression analysis, and was expressed as Logit (P) = -35.912 + 0.783 X age +1.187 X duration of catheterization + 1.101 X location of catheterization + 0.851 X history of diabetes mellitus +0.677 X YKL-40 + 0.815 X NGAL + 0.728 X PTM. The ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the ROC curve of the prediction model for catheter-related infection was 0.959, with the standard error being 0.019, the cut-off value being 9.865, the sensitivity being 94.4% (95% CI: 0.897, 0.983), and the specificity being 86.0% (95% CI: 0.818, 0985) (P < 0.05). In addition, the sensitivity of the prediction model was higher than that of YKL-40, NGAL and PTM alone for predicting the catheter-related infection.Conclusions The levels of serum YKL-40 and NGAL and PTM are correlated with and exhibit great predictive values for catheter-related infection in uremic patients undergoing hemodialysis, and the sensitivity of the combined detection of all indicators is higher than that of each indicator alone for predicting the catheter-related infection.