Type of publication:
Journal article
Author(s):
Udayakumar C.; M V.; Kumar K.; *Jayaram A.
Citation:
International Journal of Pharmacy Research and Technology. 16(1) (pp 391-397), 2026. Date of Publication: 01 Jan 2026.
Abstract:
Introduction: The novel SARS CoV-2 was declared as a public health emergency in January 2020. Patients infected with this virus show different severity of disease symptoms ranging from mild disease to that requiring intensive care and death. Therefore, it is important to have a test with the ability to predict the prognosis of patients at diagnosis and can aid in management decisions. Material(s) and Method(s): This study is a hospital based prospective observational study. The study includes the patients who are tested RTPCR positive within 72 hours of onset of symptoms. Patient who underwent Chest CT between 5th-7th day after the onset of symptoms were included in the study. Patients with RTPCR negative, RTPCR positive without Chest CT, asymptomatic RTPCR positive patients were excluded from the study. Viral RNA will be extracted by using extraction kits, and RTPCR performed in VRDL laboratory, SIMS, Shimoga. Using primers and probes targeting the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene fragment will be detected in the sample. A positive and a negative control were included in each run to generate a valid result. A Ct value of 15-35 was defined as a positive result. Computed tomography images of the chest will be obtained using 64 Slice Phillips CT machine. CT severity score will be calculated by looking for the presence of inflammatory abnormalities (like ground-glassopacities, mixed ground-glass opacities, or consolidation) in each lobe. Each lobe will then be awarded 0 to 4 points, depending on the percentage of involvement in each lobe: 0 (0%), 1 (1-25%), 2 (26-50%), 3 (51-75%), or 4 (76-100%. Total severity score will then be calculated with cut off being 7 for mild disease. Result(s): The mean age in the mild COVID-19 group was 49.52 years and in the moderate COVID-19 group was 51.84 years. The gender distribution showed that 68% (68/100) of the subjects were males while 32% (32/100) of them were females. On comparison of the haematological parameters, there was a statistically significant difference in the mean platelet count between the mild and moderate COVID-19 group (3.04 L versus 2.19 L, respectively, p-value=0.01). Among the biochemical parameters, a statistically significant difference between the mild and moderate COVID-19 groups were found in the following parameters- mean AST, mean ALT, mean D-dimer and mean serum ferritin. Conclusion(s): Viral load can be used as an early prognostic marker to assess severity. The utility of CT severity score, RT-PCR Ct value and other various clinical, radiological and immunological indices for supplementing the clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 cannot be overemphasized especially in a pandemic situation. CT chest severity score correlates with cycle threshold values in assessing severity of disease. However since the sample size is small further studies are required to prove the same.
DOI: 10.48047/ijprt/16.01.43
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