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Published online: 2024-08-08

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Markers of the outcome of COVID-19

Jolanta Smykiewicz1, Magdalena Wiacek2, Jakub Buczkowski2, Mateusz Maciejczyk3, Ryszard Tomasiuk

Abstract

Introduction: Over the last four years, COVID-19 has caused more than 3 million deaths around the world. This phenomenon led to the search for diagnostic markers for COVID-19. Considering that the clinical applicability of specific biomarkers for the prediction of the severity of COVID-19 is still debatable, this study analyses the clinical applicability of NT-proCNP, presepsin, SuPAR, Crp, procalcitonin, interleukin-6 and D-dimers in patients who died and survived COVID-19 to establish cross-relevance between the outcome of COVID-19 and markers level.

Materials and methods: The study sample comprised 84 deceased patients (62 men, 21 women) and 72 survivors (40 men, 32 women). Various immunological techniques were employed to analyse the concentration of specific biomarkers. Statistical analysis was performed using the Student’s t-test or the Mann-Whitney test according to the distribution of the sample studied.

Results: This study revealed that the levels of NT-proCNP, presepsin, SuPAR, procalcitonin, and IL-6 increase due to COVID-19. Thus, nonsurvivors are defined by the higher levels of those markers than the survivors.

Conclusions: The study revealed the potential application of NT-proCNP, presepsin, SuPAR, CRP, procalcitonin, IL-6, and D-dimers as markers of progression of the COVID-19 - D. However, considering the physiological mechanism of a dimension of a response of the studied markers as a function of disease progress, it may not be concluded that they are singularly unique for the progress of the COVID-19 - D.

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