Comparative analysis of biochemical parameters in moderate & severe patients infected with COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Background/Objectives: Corona virus disease 2019(COVID19) pandemic has caught the world into pronounced health crisis as number of patients is dramatically increasing worldwide. COVID19 is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARSCoV2) which mainly infects respiratory system but can damage other systems also. So, its early diagnosis is very necessary. Biochemical Parameters can effectively diagnose COVID19 earlier. This study is to analyze alterations in biochemical parameters in COVID19 patients of our region as there is scarcity of COVID19 related biochemical data of our region & to compare them according to disease severity. Methodology: This study involved 112 COVID19 positive patients admitted between 01/09/2020 & 30/11/2020 at IGGMC, Nagpur. Patients were categorized on the basis of ICMR guidelines into two groups i.e. moderate(n=56) & severe(n=56) each between 18 & 80 years of age. Blood samples were processed in ERBA-XL-640 autoanalyzer for estimation of serum levels of C-reactive protein(CRP), Ferritin, Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH), Creatinine, Urea, Aspartate Transaminase (AST), Alanine Transaminase (ALT), Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP),Total Proteins (TP), Albumin. Results were compared between these two groups & evaluated using independent samples t-test. Result: Severely ill patients had significantly higher levels of LDH (p=0.0001), CRP (p=0.0001), Ferritin (p=0.0001), Creatinine (p=0.0001), Urea (p=0.007), AST (p=0.02) & ALT (p=0.02) as compared to moderate patients. No significant difference was observed in values of TP (p=0.4), Albumin (p=0.6), ALP (p=0.7) between both groups. Conclusion: Biochemical investigations of COVID19 patients are simple, costeffective & rapid marker which helps in early identification of critically ill patients & monitoring of disease progression aiming to improve recovery & reduce mortality of COVID19 patients.