ELEVATED SERUM C-REACTIVE PROTEIN LEVELS IN COVID-19 PATIENTS WITH SCIATICA: IMPLICATIONS FOR PROGNOSIS AND TREATMENT STRATEGIES.

To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has reported characteristics of C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in COVID-19 patients with comorbidities such as sciatica and lumbar syndrome. The objective of this study was to examine whether CRP levels rose significantly in COVID-19 patients with acute sciatica as compared to COVID-19 patients without it. This prospective study was performed on 147 patients previously diagnosed with COVID-19 infection who were admitted to the COVID hospital. Myalgia (p=0.00008) and lower back pain (p=0.00001) occurred much more frequently in the study group than in the control group. There was a high probability that patients with a previous history of sciatica may experience it again during their stay in COVID-19 hospital and that patients without it would not (p=0.00001). There was a significant correlation between the severity of sciatica and CRP levels (r=0.19, p=0.0174). Our results suggest that serum CRP levels are significantly higher in COVID-19 patients with concomitant sciatica in comparison to patients without sciatic pain, indicating a connection between the increased systemic inflammation in COVID-19 and sciatica. Given that the occurrence of COVID-19 in patients with sciatica is not rare, the knowledge about this matter is of high medical relevance.