Evaluation of inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers in COVID-19 patients

COVID-19 is a viral disease that emerged in December 2019 and caused a pandemic. Although the pathophysiology of the disease has not been fully understood, studies have been conducted worldwide. There are difficulties to distinguish patients who present with fever, cough and shortness of breath in the early stage of this disease from people with similar symptoms. The aim of this study is to clarify the pathophysiology of the early stage of COVID-19 using some oxidative and inflammatory parameters. In addition, it was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of these parameters in differentiating COVID-19 patients from people with similar symptoms. From serum samples of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and those who had similar symptoms with this disease and excluded from the diagnosis of COVID-19, TAS and TOS test were performed using spectrophotometric method; Neopterin, IL-18, CXCL9, S100A12 concentrations were measured by ELISA method. Correlation analysis of age, disease severity and routine laboratory data was performed with all these study parameters. In addition, the diagnostic performances of these parameters were evaluated. PLR was found to be higher in the COVID-19 patient group. LCR, CXCL9 and S100A12 were high in the control group. The diagnostic performance of the CXCL9 test was good, S100A12 and PLR were moderate, and LCR was poor. No significant difference was found between the groups in other parameters. In the early stage of COVID-19, compared to symptomatic control, lower levels of cellular immunity were observed and no significant difference was found in oxidative stress. CRP elevation, lymphopenia and thrombocytosis, which were observed in COVID-19, caused higher PLR elevation and lower LCR in these patients. CXCL9, PLR, and S100A12 can help differentiate COVID-19 patients from other symptomatic individuals.