ASSOCIATIONS OF PROCALCITONIN, CRP AND NLR WITH MORTALITY IN HOSPITALIZED COVID-19 PATIENTS IN UNIVERSITY CLINICAL HOSPITAL MOSTAR

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the level of inammatory parameters in 3 different groups of COVID-19 patients depending on severity of clinical manifestations and to dene which inammatory parameter can be used as predictor of clinical severity and outcome. A total of 51 subjects was included in this study by retrospective review of theMethods: documentation at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases of University Clinical Hospital Mostar. The following data were collected: demographic, clinical symptoms, complications, therapy, and the level of inammatory parameters (C-reactive protein at the admission, procalcitonin, leukocytes, relative neutrophils count, relative lymphocyte count). Depending on the value of paO2/O2 patients were separated into 3 groups: mild, moderate and severe group. Data entry into the tables was followed by statistical data processing using IBM SPSS Statistics v.26 and Microsoft Excel 2013. Most frequent symptoms were fever (82% of all subjects), cough (61%), trouble breathing (55%), shortness ofResults: breath (43%), chest pain (27%), muscle pain (25%), diarrhea (20%), vomiting (6%) and headache (6%). The overall mortality of this study was 35%, with a statistically much higher mortality in severe patients. Also C-reactive protein levels were higher in severe patients. Conclusions: Levels of C-reactive protein on admission were signicantly higher in patients who developed a severe clinical manifestations. Also, mortality in severe patients was statistically higher than the remaining 2 groups of patients. CRP is reported as a prognostic factor in the severity of clinical manifestations and mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.