ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Biochemical and Inflammatory Markers in Covid-19 Patients of a Tertiary Care Hospital at North Karnataka – A Descriptive Study

Background: Covid-19 has emerged as a public health crisis. Biochemical and laboratory parameters play a role in understanding the disease process.

Aims and objectives: 1. Understanding the demographic pattern of Covid-19 disease in the study population. 2. To analyze biochemical and inflammatory markers in Covid-19 patients. Study includes the data collected from Covid -19 Hospital laboratory of a tertiary care hospital at KIMS (Karnataka Institute of medical sciences, Hubballi, Karnataka, India). Data was collected from March to October 2020 (Total 7800 patients had Covid-19 during this period).  The present study includes the data from the 4478 Covid-19 patients of age group ranging from 1year to 99 years.  Newborn to Covid-19 positive mothers and patients whose complete data was not available were excluded from the study. The parameters included in the study are CRP(c reactive protein), Ferritin, LDH (Lactate dehydrogenase), Troponin-I, and D-dimer.  

Results: The levels of CRP, LDH, Ferritin were significantly increased in males compared to females. There was a significant difference in the levels of CRP, LDH, Ferritin, and D-dimer among different age groups, but no such statistical difference was found for Troponin-I.

Conclusion: This study suggests the possibility of increase in severity of the disease with increasing age. This possibility of association between age and severity of disease was earlier studied only on small sample size.  This study also suggests that disease severity is more common in males than in females.