Chitra Siva Sankari Gandhi1, Amuthavalli Vasudevan2, Ramya Subramani3, Ramadevi Kanaka Sabapathi4
BACKGROUND
New corona virus respiratory syndrome is a health emergency due to high
infectivity and high case fatality in patients with comorbid conditions like ischemic
heart disease. The diagnostic methods of corona virus disease (Covid-19) are still
in experimental stage. Hence, a sensitive and specific disease progression marker
of Covid-19 is needed. CRP (C-reactive protein) is synthesised by liver. It is
elevated in infection and inflammatory conditions as it is an acute phase protein.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate CRP as a promising marker for predicting
severity of Covid-19 in ischemic heart disease patients and to correlate the impact
of CRP with other circulating cardiac biomarkers in different age groups and both
sexes.
METHODS
This is a cross sectional study done among south Indian population mostly from
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. 232 cases were selected and divided into two
groups based on age, sex and confirmed Covid-19 positive cases by RT-PCR
(Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction), admitted and treated in Rajiv
Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai.
RESULTS
In this study, CRP levels were elevated in the age group of 50 - 70 years (66.96
± 70.09 mg/dL) than CRP levels of age group 30 - 50 years (82.31 ± 90.23 mg/dL)
and P value was found to be significant in the age group of 50 - 70 years. Lactate
dehydrogenase (LDH) levels were elevated in the age group of 30 - 50 years
(380.77 ± 252.23 U/L) than the LDH levels of age group 50 - 70 years (393.53 ±
206.83 U/L) and P value was found to be significant in the age group of 30 - 50
years. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and
creatine kinase (CK) levels are the additional cardiac enzymes found to be elevated
in this study. CRP showed a positive correlation with LDH (r = 0.221 P < 0.001)
in both males (r = 0.06 and P < 0.001) and females (r = 0.45 and P < 0.001) with
a significant P value. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves for CRP Vs
age group shows a sensitivity of 91.15 % and specificity of 92.52 % and area
under curve of 0.556.
CONCLUSIONS
CRP can be used as a promising marker for early detection and timely intervention
of ischemic heart disease in Covid-19 patients especially in the age group of 50 -
70 years and thereby reduces the mortality.
