Researchers analyzed 2,540 blood samples from study participants who were hospitalized from COVID-19 between August 2020 and November 2021, when the delta variant took over.
The analysis found that “elevated plasma antigen is highly associated with both severity of pulmonary illness and clinically important patient outcomes,” the researchers wrote. The study, funded by Operation Warp Speed and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was published Aug. 30 in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Higher blood antigen levels also correlated with longer hospital stays, indicating antigen levels as a potential biomarker for future COVID-19 treatments.
