Revista de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Diagnóstico

Abstracto

The Association of Radiological Severity with Inflammatory Biomarkers for Prognostic Prediction in Patients with COVID-19

Yousra Zouine*, Meriam Benzalim, Soumaya Alj

Background: COVID-19, brought on by SARS-CoV-2, has spread worldwide. It progresses quickly and brings on serious and deadly complications. It would be helpful in screening, classifying patients, and avoiding severe complications to link radiological severity with useful biomarkers like CRP, leucocytes, lymphocytes, and D-Dimer.

Aims and objectives: To identify patients at risk of fatal complications, the research looked into the relationship between inflammatory biomarker levels and HRCT chest findings.

Materials and methods: The Ibn Tofail hospital COVID-19 dedicated center undertook this retrospective monocentric observational research. The research included 177 patients>18 years old who were admitted between September 1, 2020 and November 30, 2020 with a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. Retrospective data collection from patient records was done on demographics, illness severity, laboratory measurements, and radiology imaging. Based on CT Severity scoring, the illness severity was divided into three categories: light, mild to severe, and critical. Every patient had an HRCT Chest and inflammatory biomarkers sent in at the time of admission, and the results were documented.

Results: In our research, 61 female patients and 116 male patients participated. Patients with severe lung involvement have an average age of 61.9 years, whereas those with non-severe lung involvement have an average age of 56.8 years, and there is a substantial correlation between age and the severity of lung involvement (p-value: 0.017). According to HRCT chest results, patients with elevated CRP levels (P-value 0.001), D-Dimer levels (P value 0.032), and low lymphocyte levels (P value 0.001) had more severe lung involvement. Additionally, it was discovered that radiological severity among COVID-19 patients was strongly correlated with capillary oxygen SATURATION. The CT severity score had greater sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy in predicting severe, critical cases, and short-term mortality when compared to CRP, leukocytes, lymphocytes, and D-Dimeres levels.

Conclusion: Because COVID-19 disease severity is correlated with radiological severity and inflammatory markers, it will be easier to classify patients into various risk groups as soon as they are diagnosed in order to ensure efficient resource allocation.