A Study on Serum D-Dimer Levels among Hospitalized Patients with COVID 19

Abstract

COVID 19 Pandemic has devastated the world in 2020 with more than 86 million cases and the 18 lakh deaths worldwide. Initially considered as a respiratory infection, more and more studies point towards coagulopathy as a primary mechanism of organ damage and death caused by this virus. The purpose of this study is to look for raised D-dimer level in COVID -19 patients and assess whether they correlated with severity and outcome of the disease. Study was carried out in 100 patients with COVID -19. The mean D-dimer level on admission was 1.064 mg/L. The study finds significantly higher mean D-dimer levels (p=0.0) and significantly higher number of patients with raised (≥ 0.5 mg/L) D-dimer levels (p=0.00) in Critical and Severe Groups as compared to Moderate and Mild groups of patients. There were 48 patients with normal D-dimer (<0.5 mg/L) levels out of which 3 patients died and 52 patients with raised (≥ 0.5 mg/L) D-dimer levels, out of which 18 patients died (p=0.01).There was significantly higher number of patients requiring supplemental oxygen among patients with raised D-dimer levels (p=0.00) in Moderate group.