Evaluating the Inflammatory Indicators in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Regardless of Vaccination Status

Hasiba Mahmuda¹, Shamoli Saha¹ and Ritu Saha^1,

¹Department of Microbiology, Bashundhara Ad-Din Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Cite this paper:
Hasiba Mahmuda, Shamoli Saha and Ritu Saha. Evaluating the Inflammatory Indicators in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Regardless of Vaccination Status. American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology. 2024; 12(4):110-115. doi: 10.12691/ajidm-12-4-5

Abstract

Vaccines against the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) may be effective in reducing hospital stay rates, severe illnesses, and fatalities. Being hospitalized, prognostic variables and immunization effects on inflammatory indicators must be assessed. Our research evaluated whether vaccinations affect indicators of inflammation. In this cross-sectional study, 55 hospitalized COVID-19 patients were documented together with their demographics, comorbidities, and inflammatory markers from November 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021. The patients were divided into three groups according to their COVID-19 vaccination status: 28 were unvaccinated, 7 were partially vaccinated, and 20 individuals were fully vaccinated. Out of 55 participants, the mean age ( ± SD) was 59.8 ( ± 15.5) years and 56.4% of the total patients were females. 94.5% of the patients had comorbidity (78.2% diabetic, 74.5% hypertensive). A significantly higher (p = 0.03) number of patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) were unvaccinated. Among 55 patients, 24 were admitted to the ICU and 31 were in general beds that were isolated for COVID-19 patients. No significant association was found between the patient’s vaccination status and hospital admission site (p = 0.9). The median values of CRP, D-dimer & LDH were statistically significant among the groups (p < 0.05). The unvaccinated patient group had significantly higher CRP (p = 0.017) & LDH (p = 0.023) levels than the partially vaccinated group. Moreover, the D-dimer levels of unvaccinated patients were significantly higher than both the fully vaccinated (p = 0.024) as well as the partially vaccinated group (p = 0.035). No significant differences were observed in serum Ferritin levels among the groups (p = 0.34). Though COVID-19 immunization can’t remove the possibility of infection, it reduces illness severity and inflammatory responses, improving clinical outcomes and perhaps decreasing hospitalization and death.

Keywords:
COVID-19 CRP Ferritin D-dimer LDH

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