Materials and methods
acute lung injury, ARDS
DISEASE PROGRESSION, SECONDARY, ARDS
This study was a secondary analysis of the multicenter randomized controlled trial, ALTA). ALTA included 282 mechanically ventilated patients and compared the beta-2-agonist albuterol to placebo for the treatment of acute lung injury (ALI)/ARDS [Plasma MMP-3 concentrations were measured in 100 plasma samples from ALTA and 20 healthy control plasma samples using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The primary outcome was the area-under-the-receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) of day 3 MMP-3 concentrations to predict 90-day mortality in patients with ARDS. Day 0 and 3 were chosen because they approximated the baseline expression close to ARDS diagnosis and then reassessed several days into disease progression to allow discrimination between rapidly improving ARDS phenotypes described as rapidly improving by the 24-h mark [