Could a Blood Test Give A Prediction of Severity of COVID-19 Infection?

First Molecular Profiles of Severe COVID-19 Infections

Dr. Francis Collins/NIH

To ensure that people with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) get the care they need, it would help if a simple blood test could predict early on which patients are most likely to progress to severe and life-threatening illness—and which are more likely to recover without much need for medical intervention. Now, researchers have provided some of the first evidence that such a test might be possible.

This tantalizing possibility comes from a study reported recently in the journal Cell. In this study, researchers took blood samples from people with mild to severe COVID-19 and analyzed them for nearly 2,000 proteins and metabolites [1]. Their detailed analyses turned up hundreds of molecular changes in blood that differentiated milder COVID-19 symptoms from more severe illness. What’s more, they found that they could train a computer to use the most informative of the proteins and predict the disease severity with a high degree of accuracy.

The findings come from the lab of Tiannan Guo, Westlake University, Zhejiang Province, China. His team recognized that, while we’ve learned a lot about the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 and the spread of the illness around the world, much less is known about the condition’s underlying molecular features…..read more:

Carol Duff, MSN, BA, RN

Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.

She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.

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