First chest CT score was found to correlate well with various lab indicators of COVID-19 severity: C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), according to a study published September 28, 2021, in the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

The study group, led by Dr. Quinying Lin of Putian University in China, looked at the “correlation test between first chest CT score and blood cell analysis, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), blood biochemistry and T lymphocyte subsets (T-Ls),” wrote Lin, et al., who concluded, “[t]he chest CT characteristics of patients with COVID-19 correlated positively with CRP, ESR, and LDH, which may use one of the indicators for the assessment of disease severity.”

“Viral nucleic acid testing is playing a valuable role in helping test COVID-19. However, nucleic acid testing has a relative complex process and requires a long time before results are available. In addition, some nucleic acid test cases with risk of false-negative, which is harmful to the control of COVID-19,” wrote the authors. They noted that “[t]hese results provide evidence in helping improve diagnosing and treating COVID-19,” which could overcome the lengthy wait times and result in more timely treatment.

Sources:

Qunying Lin, Liangning Wu, Weihua Lin, et al. Correlation between chest CT severity score and laboratory indicators in patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). International Journal of Clinical Practice. Oct 8, 2021. Published online September 28, 2021, at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijcp.14907. Accessed October 11, 2021.

Yee, Kate. CT severity scores correlate with COVID-19 lab results. AuntMinnie.com September 30, 2021, at https://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=cto&pag=dis&ItemID=133604. Accessed October 11, 2021.