The importance of biomarkers in determining the prognosis of patients requiring intensive care hospitalization due to COVID-19 infection

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate the effect of biomarkers such as CRP, ferritin, troponin, lymphopenia, and D-dimer in predicting disease severity and clinical outcome. Identifying an effective and predictive biomarker will help to evaluate patients' risk and improve overall clinical management of patients with COVID-19 Material and Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, 1458 patients who were taken to intensive care follow-up due to COVID-19 across the province of Bursa were evaluated. Age, gender, and laboratory data such as ferritin, D-dimer, White Blood Cell (WBC), C-reactive protein, troponin values, chronic diseases, length of stay in the intensive care unit, and mortality were recorded. The relation of these variables with mortality was analyzed. Results: There was no significant difference between the groups regarding age and length of stay in the intensive care unit (p=379, p=0.094). There was a statistically significant difference between the groups for ferritin, CRP, D-dimer, troponin, and WBC variables (p<0.001). In the ROC analysis, it was seen that the sensitivity value for ferritin was 86.08%, the specificity value was 85.23%, and the AUC: 0.902 had a high level of diagnostic value. Conclusion: An increase in acute phase reactants was associated with mortality in patients followed up for COVID-19. This may be related to the increased cytokine response triggered by the disease.