EVALUATION OF C-REACTIVE PROTEIN LEVEL AMONG COVID-19 PATIENTS

Trupti Bajpai*, Prachi Shaw and Ravi Dosi

ABSTRACT

Background: Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic is a public health crisis that has emerged due to the spread of 2019 novel Corona Virus (2019-nCoV), also called as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Detection of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) levels serve as a predictive biomarker of infection and inflammation. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the CRP levels of all the clinically and diagnostically confirmed COVID-19 patients. Materials and Methods: The present prospective study was conducted for a period of 60 days from 28th March to 26th May’2020 in the Serology section of the department of Microbiology of a teaching tertiary care hospital. Three to five ml. of venous blood was collected from 556 clinically and diagnostically confirmed admitted cases of COVID-19 and subjected to semi-quantitative, latex agglutination based CRP test (Rhelax-CRP, Tulip Diagnostics, Goa, India). CRP values equal to or greater than 0.6 mg/dl were considered as abnormal. Results: Out of 556 serum samples tested for CRP, 233 (41.9%) samples showed abnormal values. Out of 357 male patients 48.7% and out of 199 female patients 29.6% showed elevated CRP values respectively. A total of 65.6% patients had increased CRP values that belonged to the age group 71~80 years followed by 57.1% patients that belonged to the age group of 81~90 years. Conclusion: Our study concluded that large number of COVID-19 patients had elevated serum CRP levels. However, some patients maintained the normal values throughout the course of disease. Male preponderance was detected and elderly patients revealed abnormal values of CRP as compared to young and middle-aged patients.

Keywords: COVID-19, novel Corona Virus-2, C-reactive protein, Latex agglutination test.