CORRELATION OF COVID-19 SEVERITY with HEMATOLOGICAL, BIOCHEMICAL, COAGULA-TION AND INFLAMMATORY MARKERS- A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Coronaviruses cause exceptionally contagious infections and at present they pose a major concern of public health worldwide. This study was conducted to evaluate the severity of Corona Virus (COVID)-19 through hematological, biochemical, coagulation and inflammatory markers. This was a cross-sectional study including 200 COVID-19 patients (97 with non-severe and 103 with severe diseases) admitted to Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, Pakistan from December 2020 to June 2021. The patients were initially screened through Real-time PCR and positive confirmed patients were further evaluated for serum ferritin, C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), D-dimer, and complete blood count (CBC) by using the standard protocols. Among the 200 COVID-19 positive patients, male positive patients were predominant (n= 138, 69%), and the most prevalent age group was 41 to 60 years (i.e., 49%). CRP was found to be most frequently deranged (95%) followed by D-dimer and LDH levels in 92% of patients. The abnormal levels of neutrophils, lymphocytes, ferritin, and hemoglobin were recorded as 83%, 82%, 79%, and 20%, respectively. All studied inflammatory markers significantly (p <0.005) correlated with the severity of COVID-19 patients.