CORRELATION BETWEEN SERUM INFLAMMATORY MARKERS AND DISEASE SEVERITY IN COVID-19 PATIENTS: A MEDICAL LABORATORY APPROACH

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has emerged as a global health crisis with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from mild respiratory symptoms to severe pneumonia, multi-organ dysfunction, and death. Inflammatory biomarkers have been identified as valuable indicators for assessing disease severity, as they reflect the host immune response to infection. Monitoring these biomarkers can provide important insights into disease progression and guide clinical management. This study investigated the correlation of inflammatory biomarkers in COVID-19 patients and their differential patterns across mild to severe disease. Medical records of 100 confirmed cases admitted to the isolation ward of Rahman Medical Institute (RMI), Peshawar, between May and August 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA by RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal swabs. Laboratory investigations included lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer, and ferritin, performed at the RMI Laboratory. The results revealed elevated levels of these biomarkers, with CRP showing the highest frequency of elevation, observed in up to 78% of cases. Ferritin was abnormal in 66% of patients, D-dimer in 76%, and LDH in 83%, while the remaining percentages represented patients with normal levels. These findings demonstrate that elevations in inflammatory biomarkers are strongly correlated with disease severity in COVID-19 patients.