The clinical spectrum of 2019's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spans from a little ailment to a serious illness. Patients with severe illnesses display multi-organ failure brought on by the so-called "cytokine storm," respiratory failure, septic shock, and/or septic shock. Inflammatory cytokines have an impact on iron metabolism, primarily through increasing the production of the hormone peptide hepcidin, which is not frequently tested. The severity of COVID-19 has been linked to high hepcidin levels. In this investigation, the levels of hepcidin in a sample of COVID-19 patients who had been hospitalised to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Policlinico Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy, were retrospectively analyzed. The trial recruited 38 participants between November 2020 and May 2021. Patients were divided into two groups—survivors and non-survivors—based on the clinical outcome. Additionally, while the patients were in the ICU, a number of standard laboratory parameters were checked, and the levels of these parameters were associated with the results. Hepcidin, D-dimer, IL-6, LDH, NLR, neutrophils, CRP, TNF-, and transferrin levels were statistically different amongst the groups. Hepcidin levels in particular indicated significantly different median amounts between survivors and non-survivors (88 ng/mL vs. 146 ng/mL). Hepcidin was found to be a good biomarker for predicting the severity and mortality of COVID-19 in ICU patients, with sensitivity and specificity values of 74% and 76%, respectively, at a cut-off of 127 (ng/mL), according to ROC curves analysis.
