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Assessment of Surrogate Markers/Indices of Systemic Inflammation Among COVID-19 Patients with and Without Comorbid Conditions

Received: 6 January 2022    Accepted: 22 January 2022    Published: 9 February 2022
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Abstract

Background: As widely reported, comorbid conditions are a significant risk for severe COVID-19 infection which is characterized by heightened adverse consequences. Since cytokine-induced inflammatory processes define COVID-19 severity, this study was aimed to evaluate the burden of COVID-19-induced inflammatory episodes, assessed using surrogate markers/indices of inflammation, among COVID-19 patients with and without comorbid conditions in Nigeria. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of data obtained from treatment-naive real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmed COVID-19 patients at the Eleme COVID-19 treatment center in Port Harcourt within the southern region of Nigeria. All relevant data was acquired from case notes, medical review charts, nurses’ charts, and laboratory records by trained research assistants using data acquisition templates. All the data acquired were analyzed and compared between the COVID-19 patients with and without comorbid conditions using standard descriptive and comparative statistical tools. Results: Among those studied (n=604), 31.8% (n=192) had at least one pre-existing comorbid condition while 68.2% (n=412) had no comorbid conditions before COVID-19 diagnosis/subsequent presentation. The comorbid positive subgroup were mostly males and had higher mean age, BMI, body temperature, SBP, DBP, and higher proportions of elderly patients, high-risk occupational status (health workers) and social behavior (cigarette smoking), obesity, severe disease, and worse disease outcome, but lower oxygen saturation compared to the comorbid negative subjects at presentation. Additionally, the comorbid positive subjects also had higher mean levels of blood urea, creatinine, pro-calcitonin, CRP, ferritin, Glasgow prognostic scores, fibrinogen, D-Dimer, and the fibrinogen-albumin ratio, total white cell counts, isolated neutrophil counts, neutrophil-lymphocyte count ratio, and the platelet-lymphocyte count ratio but lower levels of potassium, albumin, isolated lymphocyte count and isolated platelet count compared to the comorbid negative subjects (p<0.05). The inflammatory markers/indices were significantly associated with obesity, age ≥65 years, hypertension, past/current cigarette smoking, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Conclusion: Comorbidities are significantly associated with amplified systemic inflammatory markers and indices among COVID-19 subjects. This may indicate the pathophysiologic link between various comorbidities and the COVID-19 severity among Nigerians. However, further studies are recommended to substantiate the findings of the current study.

Published in American Journal of Laboratory Medicine (Volume 7, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajlm.20220701.13
Page(s) 16-22
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

COVID-19, Inflammatory Markers, Comorbid Conditions

References
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  • APA Style

    Stephenson Lawson, Collins Amadi. (2022). Assessment of Surrogate Markers/Indices of Systemic Inflammation Among COVID-19 Patients with and Without Comorbid Conditions. American Journal of Laboratory Medicine, 7(1), 16-22. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajlm.20220701.13

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    ACS Style

    Stephenson Lawson; Collins Amadi. Assessment of Surrogate Markers/Indices of Systemic Inflammation Among COVID-19 Patients with and Without Comorbid Conditions. Am. J. Lab. Med. 2022, 7(1), 16-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajlm.20220701.13

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    AMA Style

    Stephenson Lawson, Collins Amadi. Assessment of Surrogate Markers/Indices of Systemic Inflammation Among COVID-19 Patients with and Without Comorbid Conditions. Am J Lab Med. 2022;7(1):16-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajlm.20220701.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajlm.20220701.13,
      author = {Stephenson Lawson and Collins Amadi},
      title = {Assessment of Surrogate Markers/Indices of Systemic Inflammation Among COVID-19 Patients with and Without Comorbid Conditions},
      journal = {American Journal of Laboratory Medicine},
      volume = {7},
      number = {1},
      pages = {16-22},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajlm.20220701.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajlm.20220701.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajlm.20220701.13},
      abstract = {Background: As widely reported, comorbid conditions are a significant risk for severe COVID-19 infection which is characterized by heightened adverse consequences. Since cytokine-induced inflammatory processes define COVID-19 severity, this study was aimed to evaluate the burden of COVID-19-induced inflammatory episodes, assessed using surrogate markers/indices of inflammation, among COVID-19 patients with and without comorbid conditions in Nigeria. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of data obtained from treatment-naive real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmed COVID-19 patients at the Eleme COVID-19 treatment center in Port Harcourt within the southern region of Nigeria. All relevant data was acquired from case notes, medical review charts, nurses’ charts, and laboratory records by trained research assistants using data acquisition templates. All the data acquired were analyzed and compared between the COVID-19 patients with and without comorbid conditions using standard descriptive and comparative statistical tools. Results: Among those studied (n=604), 31.8% (n=192) had at least one pre-existing comorbid condition while 68.2% (n=412) had no comorbid conditions before COVID-19 diagnosis/subsequent presentation. The comorbid positive subgroup were mostly males and had higher mean age, BMI, body temperature, SBP, DBP, and higher proportions of elderly patients, high-risk occupational status (health workers) and social behavior (cigarette smoking), obesity, severe disease, and worse disease outcome, but lower oxygen saturation compared to the comorbid negative subjects at presentation. Additionally, the comorbid positive subjects also had higher mean levels of blood urea, creatinine, pro-calcitonin, CRP, ferritin, Glasgow prognostic scores, fibrinogen, D-Dimer, and the fibrinogen-albumin ratio, total white cell counts, isolated neutrophil counts, neutrophil-lymphocyte count ratio, and the platelet-lymphocyte count ratio but lower levels of potassium, albumin, isolated lymphocyte count and isolated platelet count compared to the comorbid negative subjects (p<0.05). The inflammatory markers/indices were significantly associated with obesity, age ≥65 years, hypertension, past/current cigarette smoking, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Conclusion: Comorbidities are significantly associated with amplified systemic inflammatory markers and indices among COVID-19 subjects. This may indicate the pathophysiologic link between various comorbidities and the COVID-19 severity among Nigerians. However, further studies are recommended to substantiate the findings of the current study.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Assessment of Surrogate Markers/Indices of Systemic Inflammation Among COVID-19 Patients with and Without Comorbid Conditions
    AU  - Stephenson Lawson
    AU  - Collins Amadi
    Y1  - 2022/02/09
    PY  - 2022
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajlm.20220701.13
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajlm.20220701.13
    T2  - American Journal of Laboratory Medicine
    JF  - American Journal of Laboratory Medicine
    JO  - American Journal of Laboratory Medicine
    SP  - 16
    EP  - 22
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-386X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajlm.20220701.13
    AB  - Background: As widely reported, comorbid conditions are a significant risk for severe COVID-19 infection which is characterized by heightened adverse consequences. Since cytokine-induced inflammatory processes define COVID-19 severity, this study was aimed to evaluate the burden of COVID-19-induced inflammatory episodes, assessed using surrogate markers/indices of inflammation, among COVID-19 patients with and without comorbid conditions in Nigeria. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of data obtained from treatment-naive real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmed COVID-19 patients at the Eleme COVID-19 treatment center in Port Harcourt within the southern region of Nigeria. All relevant data was acquired from case notes, medical review charts, nurses’ charts, and laboratory records by trained research assistants using data acquisition templates. All the data acquired were analyzed and compared between the COVID-19 patients with and without comorbid conditions using standard descriptive and comparative statistical tools. Results: Among those studied (n=604), 31.8% (n=192) had at least one pre-existing comorbid condition while 68.2% (n=412) had no comorbid conditions before COVID-19 diagnosis/subsequent presentation. The comorbid positive subgroup were mostly males and had higher mean age, BMI, body temperature, SBP, DBP, and higher proportions of elderly patients, high-risk occupational status (health workers) and social behavior (cigarette smoking), obesity, severe disease, and worse disease outcome, but lower oxygen saturation compared to the comorbid negative subjects at presentation. Additionally, the comorbid positive subjects also had higher mean levels of blood urea, creatinine, pro-calcitonin, CRP, ferritin, Glasgow prognostic scores, fibrinogen, D-Dimer, and the fibrinogen-albumin ratio, total white cell counts, isolated neutrophil counts, neutrophil-lymphocyte count ratio, and the platelet-lymphocyte count ratio but lower levels of potassium, albumin, isolated lymphocyte count and isolated platelet count compared to the comorbid negative subjects (p<0.05). The inflammatory markers/indices were significantly associated with obesity, age ≥65 years, hypertension, past/current cigarette smoking, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Conclusion: Comorbidities are significantly associated with amplified systemic inflammatory markers and indices among COVID-19 subjects. This may indicate the pathophysiologic link between various comorbidities and the COVID-19 severity among Nigerians. However, further studies are recommended to substantiate the findings of the current study.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Rivers State University/Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

  • Department of Chemical Pathology, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

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