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
. 2024 Jul 19;12(7):1609.
doi: 10.3390/biomedicines12071609.

Analysis of Ferritin, Hepcidin, Zinc, C-Reactive Protein and IL-6 Levels in COVID-19 in Patients Living at Different Altitudes in Peru

Wilmer Silva-Caso  1   2 , Sungmin Kym  3 , Alfredo Merino-Luna  4 , Miguel Angel Aguilar-Luis  1   2 , Yordi Tarazona-Castro  1 , Hugo Carrillo-Ng  1 , Eliezer Bonifacio-Velez de Villa  1 , Ronald Aquino-Ortega  1   5 , Juana Del Valle-Mendoza  1   2
Affiliations

Analysis of Ferritin, Hepcidin, Zinc, C-Reactive Protein and IL-6 Levels in COVID-19 in Patients Living at Different Altitudes in Peru

Wilmer Silva-Caso et al. Biomedicines. .

Abstract

Background: Despite great scientific efforts, understanding the role of COVID-19 clinical biomarkers remains a challenge.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study in two Peruvian cities at different altitudes for comparison: Lima and Huaraz. In each place, three groups were formed, made up of 25 patients with COVID-19 in the ICU, 25 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who did not require the ICU, and 25 healthy subjects as a control group. Five biomarkers were measured: IL-6, hepcidin, ferritin, C-reactive protein, and zinc using ELISA assays.

Results: Ferritin, C-reactive protein, and IL-6 levels were significantly higher in the ICU and non-ICU groups at both study sites. In the case of hepcidin, the levels were significantly higher in the ICU group at both study sites compared to the non-ICU group. Among the groups within each study site, the highest altitude area presented statistically significant differences between its groups in all the markers evaluated. In the lower altitude area, differences were only observed between the groups for the zinc biomarker.

Conclusion: COVID-19 patients residing at high altitudes tend to have higher levels of zinc and IL-6 in all groups studied compared to their lower altitude counterparts.

Keywords: COVID-19; IL-6; ferritin; hepcidin; zinc.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Statistic comparison of biomarkers by groups according to the altitude of the study site. (a) Ferritin: Mean levels, standard deviation, maximum and minimum levels, and interquartile ranges. (b) Hepcidin: Mean levels, standard deviation, maximum and minimum levels, and interquartile ranges. (c) Zinc: Mean levels, standard deviation, maximum and minimum levels, and interquartile ranges. (d) C-reactive protein (CPR): Mean levels, standard deviation, maximum and minimum levels, and interquartile ranges. (e) IL-6: Mean levels, standard deviation, maximum and minimum levels, and interquartile ranges.
Figure 2
Figure 2
ROC curve analysis of different predictors of hospital admission in the intensive care unit (ICU) and no-ICU. ROC (receiver operating characteristic).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Heymann D.L., Shindo N., WHO Scientific and Technical Advisory Group for Infectious Hazards COVID-19: What is next for public health? Lancet. 2020;395:542–545. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30374-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization (WHO) WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard [Internet] World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2022. [(accessed on 26 February 2023)]. Available online: https://covid19.who.int.
    1. Umakanthan S., Sahu P., Ranade A.V., Bukelo M.M., Rao J.S., Abrahao-Machado L.F., Dahal S., Kumar H., Kv D. Origin, transmission, diagnosis and management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Postgrad. Med. J. 2020;96:753–758. doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-138234. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stokes E.K., Zambrano L.D., Anderson K.N., Marder E.P., Raz K.M., El Burai Felix S., Tie Y., Fullerton K.E. Coronavirus Disease 2019 Case Surveillance-United States, January 22–May 30, 2020. MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly Rep. 2020;69:759–765. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6924e2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang Y., He Y., Tong J., Qin Y., Xie T., Li J., Li J., Xiang J., Cui Y., Higgs E.S., et al. Characterization of an Asymptomatic Cohort of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infected Individuals Outside of Wuhan, China. Clin. Infect. Dis. 2020;71:2132–2138. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa629. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources