Serum Levels of Biomarkers in COVID-19 Patients in a Hospital-based Population in Lahore

Abstract

COVID-19 disease has affected more than 1.58 million people in Pakistan. The disease has been associated with a number of inflammatory markers such as serum CRP, d-dimer and ferritin. The present study was undertaken to investigate the role of these 3 biomarkers with the severity of disease in a hospital based population in Lahore. Ninety-three COVID-19 patients (52 males, 41 females,
age 18-70 years) were recruited with informed consent. The blood was analyzed for the serum levels of CRP, d-dimer and ferritin using commercially available kits. Severity of disease was determined on the basis of clinical symptoms. Analysis of the data revealed that although there were elevated serum levels of CRP and d-dimer in most patients (54.8% and 60.2%, respectively), yet no significant differences were observed in mean levels of these biomarkers in males and females. Similarly, mean serum ferritin levels were not significantly different between male and female patients. Since the normal ranges of serum ferritin in females and males were different, the comparison among patients showed more males with normal ferritin levels than females. Thus, there were significantly more females with elevated serum ferritin levels compared to males (56.1% vs. 32.7%; p=0.015) indicating an important role of this  biomarker in Pakistani female patients. No relationship was found between levels of serum ferritin and severity of disease.