COVID-19 - Evaluation von Biomarkern im klinischen Verlauf der Erkrankung
by Anke Hillebrecht
Date of Examination:2022-03-30
Date of issue:2022-03-22
Advisor:Prof. Dr. Sabine Blaschke-Steinbrecher
Referee:Prof. Dr. Sabine Blaschke-Steinbrecher
Referee:Prof. Dr. Uwe Groß
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Abstract
English
The course of serological and laboratory biomarkers during the phase of inpatient treatment of COVID-19 patients was investigated. Data from a total of n=47 patients were retrospectively analyzed. These included selected vital signs, laboratory parameters, and serial RT-qPCR and antibody diagnostics in addition to age and sex. Higher respiratory rates were highly significantly (p<0.001) associated with higher COVID-19 disease severity. The same was true for the presence of dyspnea (p<0.001) and the CRB-65 score obtained in the emergency department (p<0.001). A significant association (p=0.05) was shown for the presence of fever with higher COVID-19 disease severity scores. In laboratory diagnostics, highly significant differences were found between COVID-19 disease severity and the level of leukocyte and lymphocyte counts (p<0.007) as well as plasma concentrations of CRP (p<0.001), PCT (p<0.001), LDH (p<0.001) and D-dimer (p<0.02). Negative SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests were obtained significantly later in patients with higher COVID-19 disease severity than in patients with milder courses. The peak of both SARS-CoV-2 IgG and SARS-CoV-2 IgA antibodies was found to occur around day 20 after symptom onset. Time points of SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgA seroconversion were found to be significantly associated with BMI class (p<0.001). By assessment of clinical disease severity and laboratory as well as virological bio-markers risk groups of COVID-19 patients could be identified in the ED thus helping to adjust risk-adapted treatment strategies.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; WHO disease activity score; anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies; serology