Vol 9, No 3 (2024)
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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 Tomasiuk2
Medical Research Journal 2024;9(3):267-275.

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.

Material 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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