Evaluation of serum procalcitonin level as a biomarker for disease severity in Covid-19 patients

Waris, Abdul; Din, Misbahud; Iqbal, Nouman; Yar, Lubna; Khalid, Atiqa; Nawaz, Mehboob; Baset, Abdul; Ali, Muhammad

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has infected millions of individuals around the globe. Forecasting the Covid-19 severity is essential and various biomarkers could be used to evaluate it. The current study was therefore aimed to evaluate the serum pro-calcitonin (PCT) level as a biomarkers for bacterial co-infection and disease severity in Covid-19 patients. A total of 430 Covid-19 positive individuals were examined in which 332 (77.2%) were male individuals while 98 (22.8%) were female individuals. Among the examined samples, 281 were classified as moderate (PCT value 0.07±0.06 ng/mL), 95 were severe (PCT value 0.5±0.4 ng/mL), and 54 were classified as critical (PCT value >1 ng/mL) individuals. The increase in total serum level of PCT was observed with the severity of disease (p<0.05). The statistical analysis represented no association of PCT value with gender (p value = 0.9650) while revealed a significant association (p value < 0.001) with of the age and PCT value in Covid-19 patients. It can be concluded that the serial PCT measurement could determine the prognosis of disease and presence of bacterial co-infection in Covid-19 patients. Further exploration of the topic is needed to evaluate the effect of different therapies on PCT level and to prescribe specific treatment options for coinfection.