Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 and Correlation of its Clinical Severity with Different Biochemical Parameters: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an infectious disease that was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province. Since then, it has spread globally, resulting in the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In Pakistan, over 1.5 million cases have been reported since February 2020 (when the first case was reported). Method This retrospective study was conducted by classifying the data of 136 patients into three study groups, namely asymptomatic (n = 84), mild (n = 36), and severe (n = 16). The data was analyzed using IBM SPSS (version 21). Results Age and gender showed a non-significant relationship with SARS-CoV-2. Biochemical markers namely D-DIMER, FERRITIN, CRP, and PT showed significant results with p-values 0.001, 0.001, 0.048, and 0.009, respectively (p<0.05). On the contrary, APTT showed a non-significant relationship with SARS-CoV-2 (p= 0.146). Conclusion It was concluded that the biochemical parameters have seen as the best prediction markers to gauge the SARS-CoV-2 infection severity. Furthermore, this research established the correlation of biochemical parameters with SARS-CoV-2 infection severity and also highlighted the use of these biomarkers as diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers.