Date Posted: June 10, 2026

Author/s: Jan Paulo S. Pereira, MD; Florido A. Atibagos, Jr., MD, FPSP and Mari Karr A. Esguerra, MD, FPSP

Background: Elevated levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the presence of cytokine storm is associated with a poorer outcome in COVID-19. IL-6 is the primary cytokine involved in the production of C-reactive protein (CRP) which is uniformly increased in cytokine storm. CRP also shows correlation with the severity of COVID-19 making it a promising predictor of clinical outcomes. It can be measured using monoclonal antibody-based test referred to as high sensitivity C-reactive protein (HS-CRP). This method has superior assay precision and accuracy in comparison to conventional means of CRP measurement.

Objectives: To determine the role of HS-CRP as a predictor of clinical outcomes among admitted adult COVID-19 patients.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study. Randomly selected medical records of 110 adult COVID-19 patients who were admitted in a tertiary hospital were used. HS-CRP measurement was used as a predictor of outcomes which were divided into good outcome (improvement and recovery) and poor outcome (deterioration and death).

Results: Of the 110 patients, 62 were males while 48 were females. Their ages ranged from 22 to 95 years old with a median age of 60 years old. Among these patients, 85 were discharged while 25 died. As for the HS-CRP measurements, patients with > 20 final HS-CRP were 7.667 times more likely to expire compared to patients with < 20 final HS-CRP. It was observed that for every 1.0 unit increase in patient’s first HS-CRP, the odds of mortality also increase by 0.81%. There will also be a 1.21% increase in the odds of mortality for every 1.0 unit increase in patient’s final HS-CRP.

Conclusion: The present study supports that an HS-CRP value > 20.00 mg/L be used as a predictor of poor outcome, particularly death.

Keywords:
COVID-19, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, retrospective cohort study