Abstract:
Background: In December 2019, a series of acute atypical respiratory disease occurred in Wuhan, China. This rapidly spread from Wuhan to other areas. It was soon discovered that a novel corona virus was responsible. The disruption of uric acid, sodium and potassium, tends to be a common occurrence in patients with COVID-19.
Aim: To assess uric acid, sodium and potassium levels among Sudanese patients with COVID-19.
Methods: This study (case-control) was conducted in Jabra isolation center at Jabra hospital for emergency and injuries- Khartoum state, during the period from February 2022 to August 2022. A total of 100 samples were collected, included 50 patients with COVID-19 as case and 50 healthy individual as control were informed about study and informed consent for participation was obtained. 3 ml of venous blood was collected in lithium heparin containers and investigated for plasma uric acid, sodium and potassium levels using Mindray BS-200 for measurement of uric acid and Easylyte for measurement of sodium and potassium. Statistical package for social science (SPSS) computer program version 26 was used for data analysis.
Results: The study results showed a significant increase in plasma uric acid (mg/dl) and potassium (mmol/l) in COVID-19 patients when compared to normal individuals without COVID-19, mean+ SD :( 5.45 +1.89 versus 4.35 + 0.79, p- value 0.00), (3.76 + 0.65 versus 3.41 + 0 .28, p- value 0.00) respectively, while there was significant decrease in plasma sodium (mmol/l) in COVID-19 patients when compared to normal individuals without COVID-19, mean+ SD: (131.9 + 7.10 versus 135.0 + 4.54, p- value 0.01).
The study revealed insignificant difference between the mean of plasma uric acid, sodium and potassium according to gender in case group, The mean + SD of uric acid in male (5.01 + 1.73) versus female (6.10 + 1.96) with p value 0.052, plasma sodium in male (132.5+ 8.24) versus female (130.9+ 4.96) with p value 0.422, and plasma potassium in male (3.69+ 0.67) versus female (3.88+ 0.62) with p value 0.321.
Person correlation showed that there were no correlation between age of patients and the level of uric acid, sodium and potassium, (r = 0.15, p value = 0.29), (r =0.01, p value = 0.93), (r = 0.03, p value = 0.82) respectively.
Conclusion: the study concluded that the plasma uric acid and potassium levels had increased in Sudanese patients with COVID-19.
