Pediatr Pulmonol. 2022 Apr 14. doi: 10.1002/ppul.25920. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Thrombosis and embolism are possible complications in COVID-19-positive pediatric patients. Although the risk is lesser in children than it is in adults, it does exist during acute infection and multiinflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). Biomarkers such as D-dimer, Prothrombin time (PT), and Fibrinogen degradation products (FDPs) are ineffective at detecting disease severity. Homocysteine (Hcy) is a prothrombotic factor that has been reported to be higher in adult COVID-19 patients, leading to speculation that it could be used as a biomarker for disease severity.
PURPOSE: to detect the correlation between serum total homocysteine (tHcy) level and the severity of COVID-19 in pediatrics.
METHODS: a cross-sectional study was conducted on 40 children with COVID-19 and 40 healthy control subjects. Serum tHcy was measured by ELISA and correlated with the clinical, laboratory, and radiological parameters of the patients.
RESULTS: The median serum tHcy level in COVID-19 patients was 27.5 (interquartile range:23 – 31.75) μmol/L, while that in the controls was 1.8 ((interquartile range:1.6 – 1.875) μmol/L. There was a statistically significant increase in tHcy level in cases compared to controls (p<0.001). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between serum tHcy and D-dimer, ferritin, alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and a highly significant positive correlation between tHcy and CO-RADS score, PICU admission, and the disease severity classification.
CONCLUSION: Hcy could be a biomarker of importance in predicting the severity of COVID-19 in pediatrics. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
PMID:35420248 | DOI:10.1002/ppul.25920
