Published online Feb 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i6.1394
Peer-review started: November 7, 2020
First decision: December 13, 2020
Revised: December 22, 2020
Accepted: January 5, 2021
Article in press: January 5, 2021
Published online: February 26, 2021
Processing time: 91 Days and 5.4 Hours
A disease caused by a novel coronavirus virus, named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), broke out in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and spread around the word. As of March 4, 2020, 93090 confirmed cases and 2984 deaths have been reported in more than 80 countries and territories. It has triggered global public health security. However, the features and prognosis of COVID-19 are incompletely understood.
We here report that the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) increased in a confirmed COVID patient. The high level of ESR sustained for a long time even after the patient recovered from COVID-19, while all results related to tumor, tuberculosis, rheumatic diseases, anemia, etc. cannot explain the abnormal elevation of ESR presented in this case.
Although the increased ESR cannot be explained by all existing evidence, it possibly links the abnormal pathologic change in some COVID-19 patients and negative prognosis, and provides the clue to dissect the mechanism of illness progressing in COVID-19 and its prognosis.
Core Tip: So far, there have been many reports on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) around the world that present different epidemiological and clinical features. Here we report a case that had a sustaining high level of erythrocyte sedimentation rate in a patient recovering from COVID-19. The high level of erythrocyte sedimentation rate was not from the tumor, inflammation, tuberculosis, rheumatic diseases, or autoimmune diseases. Therefore, we suspected that COVID-19 possibly damaged the blood or immune system. The abnormal erythrocyte sedimentation rate would be a precursor causing the joint damage after COVID-19 infection, such as osteoarthritis in future. Our report provides the supplement to understand the features of COVID-19 and shows some clues helping understand the prognosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection.