Your Urine Could Tell If You¡¯re At Risk Of Severe Covid-19, Claims Study
Urine analysis of Covid-19 patients revealed elevated levels of specific biomarkers of the immune system compared to those who were not infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The levels of these inflammatory markers in their urine were higher in patients with comorbidities such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
While a higher viral load in an RT-PCR test could help determine the severity of Covid-19 in patients, the jury is still out on that one. Now, researchers claim that a simple urine test may help predict whether people infected with the novel coronavirus will develop severe illness from the Covid-19 disease.
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Urine analysis of Covid-19 patients revealed elevated levels of specific biomarkers of the immune system compared to those who were not infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, researchers from Wayne State University said.
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Additionally, the levels of these inflammatory markers in their urine were higher in patients with comorbidities such as high blood pressure and diabetes. These patients are thought to be at a higher risk of contracting severe Covid-19.
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The motivation behind undertaking this study, according to the researchers, is to determine whether biomarkers of Covid-19 could predict which individuals will develop "overly exuberant immune responses," also called a cytokine storm.
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And they chose to screen the urine of Covid-19 patients because of its non-invasive nature that doesn't require the use of needles or blood samples.
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The researchers hope that the medical community will use urine analysis as a regular screening process for Covid-19 patients to predict who is more likely to develop severe disease for a successful treatment strategy.
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Urine tests for cytokine levels are already being used to screen a number of illnesses, including urinary tract infections and interstitial cystitis, according to LabTestsOnline.org.
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The findings will be presented virtually at the American Physiological Society's annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2021.
Earlier in October, scientists developed a unique measurement, called the Dublin-Boston score, to accurately predict how severe the Covid-19 infection will be on day seven after measuring the patient¡¯s blood for the first four days.
