Presepsin as a Predictive Indicator of Severity in Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19)

Abstract

oronavirus disease 2019 (CO¬VID-19) currently represents a major health emergency worldwide. Early recognition of severe forms is essential to align effective management and treatment strategies. Presepsin (PSP), the soluble cluster of differentiation (CD14) subtype; is a useful biomarker not only for early diagnosis of sepsis but also could be used as a predictor of the severity and mortality in septic patients, as well as in pneumonia. This study aimed to investigate the potential utility of PSP as a predictive indicator of disease severity in COVID-19 patients. A total of 42 COVID-19 patients, admitted to the Geriatrics hospital, Ain Shams University, were enrolled in this study from July to October, 2020 and stratified into moderate and severe groups, in addition to 15 healthy controls. Two blood samples were taken from the COVID-19 patients on day 1 and 5 and one sample was taken from each control. PSP levels were measured using Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay (ELISA). Results showed that there was a significant difference between moderate and severe COVID-19 patients as regards hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, D-dimer was significantly higher in severe than moderate COVID-19 groups on day 1, while WBCs and AST showed significant difference on day 5. Regarding clinical outcome, a