CRP levels are strongly associated to clinical outcome of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, irrespective of age, sex, race, or obesity

A large retrospective observational study investigated serial levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) of 2782 consecutive adult patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 that were admitted to NYU Langone Health in New York (USA). Monitoring CRP levels was a standard care for these individuals.

CRP values on admission were associated with clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients: venous thrombo-embolism (VTE), acute kidney injury (AKI), critical illness and in-hospital death. The likelihood of adverse outcomes correlated to the level of CRP, and the levels remained higher over time for patients developing AKI, or critical illness for those who died. Moreover, the association was consistent regardless of age, sex, race, and obesity.

This strengthens the evidence of CRP reflecting the disease severity and magnitude of inflammatory response and suggests the utilization of CRP in risk assessment and management of COVID-19. QuikRead go CRP tests can help the triage in hospital by providing laboratory-quality results in only 2 minutes.

Lightening graphs of CRP levels over the admission time can be seen in the original article https://doi.org/10.1093/eurhea...

References:

Smilowitz NR, Kuichoff D, Grarshick M et al. C-reactive protein and clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. European Heart Journal, 2021 2021 Jan 15;ehaa1103. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa1103.