Is the Urine Analysis, a Diagnostic Value in COVID-19 Patients?

Abstract

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2), a novel coronavirus causing Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) in December 2019, is now a pandemic infectious disease, primarily affecting the respiratory tract. To date, many investigations are available for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. A viral nucleic acid test has been used for the diagnosis of COVID-19, and some hematological indicators have been used in the auxiliary diagnosis and identification of the severity of COVID-19. There are very few studies available in routine urine biochemical parameters and their relation with Covid-19 patients. Aim: This study is aimed to study the changes in urine parameter values in COVID-19 disease and to predict the severity of the disease with the changes in urine parameters. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 patients with COVID-19 were admitted at Saveetha Medical College and Hospital during the study period. All cases tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR test done on nasopharyngeal swabs during the study period were included. Patients who tested negative by RT-PCR test were considered as controls. The relationship between the results of urine biochemical parameters and the severity of COVID-19 were analysed by Descriptive statistics, Chi-squared test. Results: The positive rates of proteinuria (PRO) and leucocytes were more significant in COVID-19 patients than in healthy controls. The urine specific gravity (SG) value was highly significant (p <0.001) while the blood, nitrites in urine, and  potential of hydrogen (pH) value was insignificant. Conclusion: There were some considerable changes in few urine biochemical parameters between patients with the SARS-CoV-2 and healthy controls. So from this study we conclude, proteinuria is helpful for predicting COVID-19 severity and kidney function.