C-REACTIVE PROTEIN LEVELS AND THE SEVERITY OF COVID-19

ABSTRACT Objective: To compare the C-reactive protein levels in different groups of COVID-19 patients to assess disease severity Study Design: Cross sectional study Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital Kohat, from Apr 2020 to Jun 2020 Methodology: Forty five Confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients were included by non-probability consecutive sampling Patients were divided into five groups (Asymptomatic, Mild, Moderate, Severe and Critical) Serum sample for C - reactive protein levels were collected at presentation and compared in different clinical groups by Paired sample “t” test and one way Anova (Post Hoc LSD) Result: Out of 45 cases in our study 28 (62 2%) were male and 17 (37 8%) were female Mean age of patients was 51 96 ± 16 and mean C-reactive protein levels were 76 61 ± 75 mg/L When compared by paired sample t-test C-reactive protein levels were: higher in the mild patient group than asymptomatic group, higher in the moderate group than mild group, higher in severe group than moderate group and those in the critical group were higher than those in the severe group The difference was statistically significant with p-value 0 05 in each group Conclusion: C-reactive protein levels were lowest in asymptomatic and highest in critical patients in early COVID-19 This may help guide management