Blood Test May Help Identify Severity Of COVID-19 Cases, Says Study

A simple blood test may help determine which coronavirus patient is at most risk of suffering severe complications or death, says a new study.

Coronavirus infection affects patients in many different ways. Some victims experience only mild or no complications while others suffer severe symptoms that may result in death.

Recently, researchers discovered a simple blood test that will help determine who among the patients have a higher risk of experiencing severe complications or death.

"When we first started treating COVID-19 patients, we watched them get better or get worse, but we didn't know why," said Dr. Juan Reyes, an assistant professor at George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences and one of the study's co-authors.

Dr. Reyes, in a news release, said preliminary studies from China in the early days of the pandemic showed the association of some biomarkers with less-desirable outcomes.

In order to find out if the same holds true for patients in the U.S, Reyes and his associates analyzed the records of almost 300 coronavirus patients admitted between March 12 and May 9 at the George Washington Hospital. They studied the biomarkers, which include IL-6, D-dimer, CRP, LDH and ferritin, of some 200 patients.

The biomarker IL-6 is a pleiotropic cytokine that is produced at the site of inflammation in response to infections and tissue damage. D-dimer is a small fragment of protein present in the blood and is generated after fibrin degradation. C-reactive protein or CRP is found in blood plasma, with its circulating concentrations increasing if there is inflammation. LDH or Lactate dehydrogenase is an enzyme present in almost all living cells and it transfers a hydride from one molecule to another. Ferritin is an intracellular protein that accumulates iron and releases them in a controlled manner.

Researchers found that higher levels of these biomarkers lead to inflammation and bleeding disorders, and an increased risk of admission to the intensive care unit or death. Dr. Shant Ayanian, George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences assistant professor of medicine and the study's author, expressed hope that these biomarkers may assist doctors in determining how to approach patients and monitor those who are discharged after treatment.

At present, doctors use age and underlying health conditions as factors to determine if patients are at risk of developing severe complications.

The study, titled "The association between biomarkers and clinical outcomes in novel coronavirus pneumonia in a US cohort", was published Friday, July 17, in the online journal Future Medicine.