Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun;50(4):332-334.
doi: 10.1016/j.medmal.2020.03.007. Epub 2020 Mar 31.

C-reactive protein levels in the early stage of COVID-19

L Wang  1
Affiliations

C-reactive protein levels in the early stage of COVID-19

L Wang. Med Mal Infect. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is a new infectious disease, for which there is currently no treatment. It is therefore necessary to explore biomarkers to determine the extent of lung lesions and disease severity.

Objective: We aimed to assess the usefulness of CRP levels in the early stage of COVID-19 and to correlate them with lung lesions and severe presentation.

Methods: Confirmed cases of COVID-19 were selected at the Fever Unit in two regions of Guizhou, China. On admission CRP levels were collected, and the diameter of the largest lung lesion was measured in the most severe lung lesion by lung CT scan. Differences in the diameter and CRP levels were compared in the following groups of patients: mild group, moderate group, severe group, and critical group.

Result: CRP levels and the diameter of the largest lung lesion in the moderate group were higher than those in the mild group (Mann-Whitney test=-2.647, -2.171, P˂0.05), those in the severe group were higher than those in the moderate group (Mann-Whitney test=0.693, -2.177, P˂0.05), and those in the critical group were higher than those in the severe group (Mann-Whitney test=-0.068, -1.549, P˂0.05). The difference was statistically significant. CRP levels were positively correlated with the diameter of lung lesion and severe presentation (correlation coefficient=0.873, 0.734, P˂0.001).

Conclusion: In the early stage of COVID-19 CRP levels were positively correlated with lung lesions and could reflect disease severity.

Keywords: C-reactive protein; COVID-19; Lung CT scan.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Relation between CRP levels, clinical severity, and lung lesions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Chen N., Zhou M., Dong X., Qu J., Gong F., Han Y., et al. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan. China: a descriptive study. Lancet. 2020;395(10223):507–513. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30211-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lin C., Ding Y., Xie B., Sun Z., Li X., Chen Z., et al. Asymptomatic novel coronavirus pneumonia patient outside Wuhan: the value of CT images in the course of the disease. Clin Imaging. 2020;63(3):7–9. doi: 10.1016/j.clinimag.2020.02.008. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Warusevitane A., Karunatilake D., Sim J., Smith C., Roffe C. Early diagnosis of pneumonia in severe stroke: clinical features and the diagnostic role of C-reactive protein. PloS one. 2016;11(3):e0150269. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150269. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. General office of the national health commission of China Covid-19 diagnostic and therapeutic regimen (trial 7th, edition) J Cardiopulm Rehabil Prev. 2020;39(02):103–107. https://kns.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx
    1. Machase E. China coronavirus: mild but infectious cases may make it hard to control outbreak. Report warms. BMJ. 2020:368:m325. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m325ed. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources