Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 11, 2025
Systems Analysis of the Neuroinflammatory and Hemodynamic Response to Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: May 27, 2022
Blood Biomarkers as Prognostic Indicators for Neurological Injury in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review and
Zhiwei Huang1, Kassahun Haile2, Lealem Gedefaw1
1Department of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
None:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been linked to various neurological complications. This meta-analysis assessed the relationship between glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels in the blood and neurological injury in COVID-19 patients. A comprehensive search of various databases was conducted until 18 August 2023, to find studies reporting GFAP and NfL blood levels in COVID-19 patients with neurological complications. GFAP and NfL levels were estimated between COVID-19 patients and healthy controls, and meta-analyses were performed using RevMan 5.4 software for analysis. In the 21 collected studies, it was found that COVID-19 patients had significantly higher levels of pooled GFAP (SMD = 0.52; 95% CI: 0.31, 0.73; p ≤ 0.001) and NfL (SMD = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.37, 0.82; p ≤ 0.001) when compared to the healthy controls. The pooled GFAP (SMD = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.26, 1.45; p ≤ 0.01) and NfL (SMD = 0.87; 95% CI: 0.48, 1.26; p ≤ 0.001) were significantly higher in non-survivors. These findings indicate a significant association between COVID-19 severity and elevated levels of GFAP and NfL, suggesting that GFAP and NfL could serve as potential diagnostic and prognostic markers for the early detection and monitoring of COVID-19-related neurological injuries.
Related Concept Videos
01:20Blood Studies for Cardiovascular System I: Cardiac Biomarkers
The essential diagnostic tools for detecting myocardial necrosis and monitoring individuals suspected of having acute coronary syndrome (ACS) include:
Troponins
Troponins, particularly cardiac troponins I and T, are the most precise and sensitive markers of myocardial injury. They are detectable within 4-6 hours of myocardial injury and remain...
01:19Blood Studies for Cardiovascular System II: CRP, Hcy, and Cardiac Natriuretic Peptide Markers
These markers indicate stress or strain on the heart muscle:
Natriuretic Peptides (BNP)
Cardiac myocytes produce these hormones in response to ventricular stretching...