ABSTRACT
Background: The progression of COVID-19 has different clinical presentations, which raises a number of immunological questions. Objective(s): This study aimed to investigate MMP-9 and TIMP-1 levels in patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and whether the MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio is associated with lung involvement in COVID-19. Method(s): This study was conducted with 192 patients and 45 healthy controls. ELISA was used to measure the MMP-9 and TIMP-1. Result(s): The MMP-9 and TIMP-1 levels of the patients were found to be higher than those of the controls. MMP-9 and TIMP-1 were detected more in patients with lung involvement on chest CT scans than in those with no lung involvement on chest CT scans. A comparison of lung involvement levels revealed no difference was found between the groups. The MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio was 5.8 in the group with lung involvement on chest CT scans and 6.1 in the group without lung involvement on chest CT scans. No difference was found between the two groups. A comparison with respect to lung involvement levels showed that the MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio difference was found between the groups. Conclusion(s): Diagnostic and treatment methods targeting MMP-9 activity or neutrophil activation may be important in predict-ing lung involvement in COVID-19 and directing clinical outcomes.Copyright © 2023 Demir NA et al. Licensee African Health Sciences.
ABSTRACT
Objective: Toevaluate the relationship between the vitamin D levels of patients at admission and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)prognosis and mortality. Materials and methods: This study was conducted between July 2020 and January 2021 with 243 patients whose severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test was positive and who were being monitored and treated for COVID-19 diagnosis in Selçuk University Medical School Hospital. Based on thoracic computed tomography results, the patients were first divided into 2 groups with respect to presence of typical involvement for COVID-19. Then, those who had involvement in their thoracic CT scans were further divided into 3 groups based on the extent of their lesions. Results: No correlation was found between the vitamin D values of the patients and the presence or level of involvement in their thoracic tomography scans. The vitamin D level was above 25 ng/mL in 30 of the 243 patients, while it was below that in 213 patients. Based on the logistic regression analysis, in which a vitamin D level<25 ng/mL was accepted as vitamin D deficiency, the risk of mortality was 2.88 (1.037-8.015, P=0.042) times greaterin those who had a vitamin D deficiency than in those who did not. Conclusion: While vitamin D deficiency did not have any significant effect on prognosis in thisstudy, it was found to increase mortality. Despite this, there is not sufficient evidence regarding the relationship between vitamin D levels and the severity of COVID-19 and death rates. There is a need for randomized controlled studies and large-scale cohort studies to test this hypothesis. © 2022 A. CARBONE Editore. All rights reserved.