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World J Diabetes. Nov 15, 2026; 17(11): 124628
Published online Nov 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.124628
Association of serum oncostatin M with disease severity and mortality in community-acquired pneumonia with diabetes mellitus
Yi Sun, Qian Li, Hong Wang, Ming-Hao Gu, Pei-Kun Teng, Xing-Yu Zhang, Xiu-Di Han, Xue-Dong Liu
Yi Sun, Ming-Hao Gu, Xiu-Di Han, Xue-Dong Liu, Qingdao Medical College, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266073, Shandong Province, China
Yi Sun, Pei-Kun Teng, Xiu-Di Han, Xue-Dong Liu, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Qingdao Municipal Hospital Group, Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China
Qian Li, Department of Emergency, Shandong Medical and Pharmaceutical University Hospital, Binzhou 256603, Shandong Province, China
Hong Wang, Department of Hospital-Acquired Infection Control, Qingdao Municipal Hospital Group, Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China
Xing-Yu Zhang, Department of Human Resources, Qingdao Municipal Hospital Group, Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China
Co-first authors: Yi Sun and Qian Li.
Co-corresponding authors: Xiu-Di Han and Xue-Dong Liu.
Author contributions: Li Q, Sun Y, and Gu MH collected the clinical samples and data; Sun Y and Li Q drafted the manuscript, as they are co-first authors; Wang H, Teng PK, and Zhang XY contributed to manuscript revision, statistical analysis, and critical review of the manuscript; Liu XD, Han XD, and Teng PK critically revised the manuscript; Liu XD conceived and supervised the study; Han XD and Liu XD are designed as co-corresponding authors; all authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
AI contribution statement: Portions of this manuscript were edited using AI tools solely for language refinement. The authors carefully reviewed and verified all AI-assisted outputs and take full responsibility for the scientific content of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Ethics Committee of Qingdao Municipal Hospital (No. KTLL202306084).
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before enrollment in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—a checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-a checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to health privacy concerns, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Xue-Dong Liu, MD, Professor, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Qingdao Municipal Hospital Group, No. 1 Jiaozhou Road, Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China.
xuedongliu0607@163.com
Received: June 22, 2026
Revised: August 5, 2026
Accepted: October 20, 2026
Published online: November 15, 2026
Processing time: 138 Days and 17.6 Hours
BACKGROUND
Patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and comorbid diabetes mellitus (DM) have an increased risk of severe disease and adverse outcomes, but biomarkers that may facilitate early severity and prognostic assessment remain limited.
AIM
To investigate the associations of serum oncostatin M (OSM) levels with disease severity and mortality in patients with DM-CAP.
METHODS
A prospective, single-center study of 410 patients with CAP was conducted from November 18, 2020 to November 20, 2021. The patients were classified into the CAP and DM-CAP groups. Patients in the DM-CAP group were further divided into the severe CAP (SCAP) and non-SCAP (NSCAP) groups. Serum OSM levels on days 1 and 6 after admission were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The associations between OSM levels and inflammatory markers, disease severity scores, and 1-year mortality were examined in the DM-CAP group. Factors associated with 1-year mortality in the DM-CAP group were further evaluated using univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses. The potential value of OSM and other parameters for assessing disease severity and 1-year mortality was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.
RESULTS
Serum OSM levels were significantly higher in the DM-CAP group than in the CAP group. Among patients with DM-CAP, serum OSM levels were significantly higher in the SCAP group than in the NSCAP group (P = 0.001) and were particularly elevated in patients who died during the 1-year follow-up. Serum OSM levels were positively correlated with the pneumonia severity index and confusion, uremia, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and age ≥ 65 years (CURB-65) scores, neutrophil and white blood cell counts, interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 levels, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, disease severity, and 1-year mortality. In the exploratory multivariable logistic regression model, age, blood urea nitrogen and OSM were independently associated with 1-year mortality in the DM-CAP group. The combination of the CURB-65 score and serum OSM levels showed potential prognostic value for 1-year mortality in this cohort.
CONCLUSION
Serum OSM levels were associated with disease severity and 1-year mortality in patients with DM-CAP and showed potential prognostic value in this cohort. These exploratory findings require validation in larger, independent cohorts.
Core Tip: This prospective observational study investigated the clinical value of serum oncostatin M in patients with community-acquired pneumonia complicated by diabetes mellitus. Serum oncostatin M levels were significantly elevated in these patients and were associated with disease severity, inflammatory burden, and 1-year mortality. Oncostatin M was an independent predictor of mortality, and its combination with confusion, uremia, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and age ≥ 65 years score improved prognostic performance. These findings suggest that oncostatin M may serve as a useful adjunctive biomarker for risk stratification and prognosis prediction in this high-risk population.
