BIOCHEMICAL MARKERS OF BLOOD IN ACUTE PERIODS OF COVID-19 AND INFLUENZA A

Recent studies show that the clinical picture of COVID-19 and influenza A, accompanied by pneumonia, looks similar at the initial stage. Therefore, it is important to determine the type of viral disease before starting treatment. The aim of the pilot clinical observational cross-sectional study was to identify a marker distinguishing acute COVID-19 from acute influenza A among routine blood serum biochemical indicators. The study material was blood samples from patients who met the inclusion criteria and were treated in two hospitals in the Krasnodar region (Russia) between 2020 and 2022. The selected patients aged 35-65 years had confirmed COVID-19 or influenza A conditions, accompanied by grade 3 pneumonia, and did not have any chronic diseases that could complicate the course of viral diseases. The results of the following biochemical parameters were evaluated: ferritin, hemoglobin, serum iron, C-reactive protein and the number of red blood cells. Blood samples from patients without viral diseases were added as a positive control. As a result of the study, we obtained constructed ROC curves for each indicator of blood serum and a discriminant analysis for all indicators combined showed that viral diseases successfully differ, mainly in terms of ferritin and C-reactive protein values.