Aim: To estimate the level of D-dimer which could predict disease severity in Covid-19 related disease.

Materials and Methods: This is a Cross sectional study done with D-dimer to predict disease severity in Covid-19 in the department of Biochemistry, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, Manipur. The study period is from June 2021 to August 2021. It involved analysis of 144 hospitalised patients of different grades of Covid-19 pneumonia with different ranges of severity. The study population included symptomatic patients of both sexes which are above 18 years with a laboratory confirmed Covid-19 by RTPCR from either throat or nasal swab. All the samples for D-dimer were collected 2-3 days from the period of confirmation. The study population are further divided into three cohorts viz. mild, moderate and severe Covid-19 groups based on the clinical parameters as per ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) guide line published at the time.

Results: The study produces results which showed significant differences in the ranges of D-dimer values across the different clinical severities of Covid-19 pneumonia (p<0.001). D-dimer level were found to be more elevated in patients with severe cases than those of mild or moderate cases. The median D-dimer level compared from moderate to severely ill patients showed increase for about 2.5 folds (0.5[0.2-10]mg/L vs 1.7 [0.2-11]mg/L p-<0.001).

Conclusions: D-dimer levels are commonly elevated in symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 patients. Significantly higher levels are seen in severely ill patients. Therefore, D-dimer can be a good prognostic and useful marker in Covid-19 management.