Features of C-reactive protein in COVID-19 patients with different ages, clinical types and outcomes: a cohort study

Background To characterize C-reactive protein (CRP) changes features from patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and to quantify the correlation between CRP value and clinical classification. Methods This was a bidirectional observational cohort study. All laboratory confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Xiangyang No.1 People’s Hospital were included. Patients’ general information, clinical type, CRP value and outcome were collected. Patients were grouped according to the age, clinical type and outcome, and their CRP were compared. The CRP value, age gender, and clinical type were used to build a categorical regression model to investigate the association between CRP and clinical type. Results The 131 patients aged 50.13±17.13 years old. There were 4 mild, 88 moderate, 21 severe and 18 critical cases. Statistical significance of CRP median exists between different clinical types and ages. There were 10 deaths and 121 cases have been discharged. The CRP in death group dramatically increased continuously until died, while increased firstly and decreased later in the survivor and survivor in critical type. The categorical regression model also showed that CRP and age had significant coefficient. During the first 15 days from symptom onset, the maximum of CRP ranged between 0.47-53.37 mg/L were related to mild combined with moderate type, ranged 53.84-107.08 mg/L were related to severe type, and 107.42-150.00 mg/L were related to the critical type. Conclusions CRP showed different distribution feature and existed differences in various ages, clinical types and outcomes of COVID-19 patients. The features corresponded with disease progression.