C-REACTIVE PROTEIN/ALBUMIN RATIO AND NEUTROPHIL-LYMPHOCYTE RATIO AS PREDICTORS OF COVID-19 SEVERITY

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was announced in early December 2019. By genome sequencing, the virus was recognised. From Wuhan City, the virus spread globally. The pandemic situation was declared by the World Health Organization.The first case of COVID-19 in Indiawas reported in Kerala on January 27, 2020.The clinical features varied with disease severity. Most COVID-19 patients have non-severe manifestations and show a good prognosis. However, patients with severe disease may progress to pulmonary dysfunction, multiple organ dysfunction, and death. COVID-19 related to a considerable mortality rate in older patients and cases had other morbidities. Studies suggested that the inflammatory storm is a common finding in other coronaviruses.Similarly, increases in the inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein (CRP),ferritin,interleukin-6 (IL-6) and were described in COVID-19 (1). Albumin levels decreased in the inflammatory conditions reduced levels were confirmed in severe COVID-19 patients. Hypoalbuminemia and high CRP/albumin ratio were previously linked to the mortality of various clinical conditions as critically ill patients.To avoid the unnecessary or inappropriate utilisation of the healthcare resources, early prediction of the severity of COVID-19 will be helpful. Severity prediction will also improve the prognosis by reducing the mortality rate.Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the role of inflammatory markers in estimating the severity and predicting the prognosis of COVID-19. This study hypothesised that elevated values of CRP/ albumin ratio and the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio at the time of COVID-19 diagnosis are associated with COVID-19 severity and mortality.