C-Reactive Protein Levels Among Coronavirus Disease 2019 Positive Cases Presenting in Gulab Devi Hospital Lahore: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly
infectious virus associated with the development of COVID 19. Lack of valid biomarkers makes it difficult to
predict disease severity. C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase inflammatory marker that which may
predict COVID-19 infection and its severity. The aim of this study was to describe the CRPlevels in COVID19 positive cases presenting in Gulab Devi hospital Lahore.
Methods: In this cross sectional study conducted in Gulab Devi Hospital Lahore for six month, 100 COVID19 positive cases were selected using convenient sampling technique. About 3 ml of venous blood was
drawn for qualitative and semi-quantitative titration analyses to determine CRP concentration in blood.
Descriptive analysis was performed using SPSS version-26 to describe the levels of CRP in relation to
clinical features and disease severity.
Results: CRP levels were elevated above normal range in 93% COVID-19 positive cases. Patients with
severe infection had high levels of CRP(>6mg/L, range: 12-96 mg/L), mildly infected patients had moderate
values of CRPand recovering patients of COVID-19 showed lowest value of CRP(<3mg/L).
Conclusion: The serum CRPlevel was substantially higher in COVID-19 positive cases in this study. CRPis
an inexpensive, rapid test available to physicians for early detection of COVID-19 severity. Determining
CRPlevels can also help physicians to identify patients at higher risk of mortality and complications.