ABSTRACT
Objective: To retrospectively analyze the relationship between serum C-reactive protein (CRP), serum cholinesterase (ChE), prealbumin (PA) and mortality in severe patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: During the period from January 29 to March 30, 2020, a total of 344 COVID-19 patients were admitted to west branch of Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. One-hundred and ninety-two patients were diagnosed with common type and excluded, and 34 patients were transferred to LeiShenShan or other medical units. The remaining 118 patients were severe cases, and 18 cases were excluded due to incomplete data. A total of 100 severe COVID-19 patients were finally collected. According to the outcome, the patients were divided into death group (37 cases) and survival group(63 cases), and the levels of serum CRP, ChE and PA were compared. Statistical analysis were performed by SPSS25.0. Results: There were 53 male patients in this study. The level of CRP in death group was significantly more elevated compare to the survival group [(95.72±39.56) mg/L vs. (22.21±20.75) mg/L, P<0.01]. On the contrary, serum ChE in death group was remarkably decreased [(5 082±1 566) U/L vs. (7 075±1 680) U/L, P<0.01]. Also, serum PA in death group was significantly lower [(86.18±47.94) mg/L vs. (167.40±57.82) mg/L, P<0.01]. Univariate analysis showed that CRP and PA had an impact on the survival of critical patients, but multivariate Cox regression analysis suggested that CRP was the independent factor affecting the survival of critical patients. Conclusions: CRP is generally elevated in severe patients with COVID-19, and serum ChE and PA accordingly decrease. CRP and PA have influence on patients' survival, but only CRP demonstrates predictive value for prognosis in critical patients with COVID-19.