الفهرس 
Introduction & Rationale of the studyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
COVID-19 has been impacting huge number of people worldwide, being reported in approximately 200 countries and territories. As of 23 October 2022, over 624 million confirmed cases and over 6.5 million deaths have been reported globally. Iron metabolism have gained a crucial insight into the processes and underlying molecular mechanisms of COVID-19 infection. Consistent findings indicated a potential role of the iron homeostasis parameters, hyperferritinemia and ferroptosis in the pathogenesis of multi-organ failure. However, there is no single, reliable marker of iron homeostasis since all traditional hematological and biochemical iron status parameters are influenced by inflammatory process.
Soluble transferrin receptor is a cleaved monomer of transferrin receptor (TfR), and represents the extracellular domain part of the TfR, and its concentration is proportional to the amount of TfR in the total body. sTfR is a known marker of iron deficiency anemia (IDA), moreover it represents the erythropoietic activity of bone marrow. In contrast to serum ferritin, which marker of iron stores, sTfR does not increase in the context of inflammation or chronic disorders, therefore sTfR is helpful for assessing IDA.
The present study is an observational case control study conducted in Suez Canal University hospital, the study included two groups, the study group, which consisted of COVID-19 diagnosed patients according to a specific inclusion criteria, and the control group, which consisted of healthy individuals, each group consisted of 50 participants. The present study aimed at assessing the pattern of the sTfR and sTfR/Log Ferritin Index in COVID-19 infected patients compared to the healthy control
Summary
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individuals, and whether alterations in the previous two parameters correlate with risk, severity, complications and mortality of COVID-19, also if these parameters can be used as biomarker for COVID-19. Both the study and the control group were interviewed for medical history, and were subjected to medical examination, furthermore blood samples were withdrawn from them, to assess hematological parameters, inflammatory parameters, coagulopathy parameters, liver functions, kidney functions, iron metabolic parameters, hepcidin, sTfR and sTfR/Log Ferritin index.
The results of the present study showed that there was not statistically significant difference in demographic data in the COVID-19 patients group and healthy control group, with age and gender matched in both groups. On the contrary, there was a statistically significant difference between COVID-19 patients group and healthy control group regarding hematological parameters (Hb, WBCs, ANC and ALC), liver functions (AST and ALT), kidney functions (creatinine), inflammatory markers (LDH, CRP and ferritin), coagulopathy markers (D-dimer), iron metabolic parameters (iron and TIBC), hepcidin, sTfR and sTfR/Log Ferritin index. COVID-19 patients group showed higher mean WBCs, ANC, AST, ALT, creatinine, LDH, CRP, ferritin, D-dimer, hepcidin, sTfR and sTfR/Log ferritin index, and lower mean Hemoglobin, ALC, Iron and TIBC, compared to the healthy control group.
The results also showed that within COVID-19 patients group, sTfR and sTfR/