Association of inflammatory biomarker abnormalities with mortality in COVID-19: a meta-analysis

Abstract

COVID-19 outbreak has engulfed different parts of the world, affecting more than 163 million people and causing more than 3 million deaths worldwide due to human transmission. Thus, it has become critical to identify the risk factors and laboratory parameters to identify patients who have high chances of worsening clinical symptoms or poor clinical outcomes. Therefore, the study aims to identify inflammatory markers that can help identify patients at increased risk for progression to critical illness, thus decreasing the risk of any mortality. Our study focussed on the predictive utility of C-reactive protein, Interleukin-6, D-dimer and Procalcitonin in assisting the management of COVID-19 patients with adverse clinical effects. Through literature search in electronic databases, we included the retrospective studies that evaluated the biomarkers among confirmed COVID-19 patients before initiation of treatment and who had a definite outcome (dead or discharged)...