Open AccessThe Effect of COVID-19 Infection on Human Blood Ghrelin Hormone: A Pilot Study
Author(s) -
Nora Hakami,
Wafaa Ahmed Alhazmi,
Eman O. Taibah,
Moa’ath Abdullah Sindi,
Ohoud F. Alotaibi,
Hajed M. Al-Otaibi,
Hani A. Alhadrami
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of pharmaceutical research international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2456-9119
DOI - 10.9734/jpri/2021/v33i731199
Subject(s) - ghrelin , appetite , hormone , covid-19 , medicine , obestatin , saliva , endocrinology , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Objectives: The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been one of the major health concerns for all the countries around the globe. This study was aimed to study the potential effect of COVID-19 virus on the level of blood ghrelin appetite hormone in order to determine the influence of this infection on the patient appetite.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study was conducted between July and the end of August 2020 in the western region of Saudi Arabia. A total of 50 confirmed positive patients with COVID-19 (positive group) and 30 control healthy subjects with negative blood samples (negative group) were collected to determine the level of ghrelin appetite hormone using the human ghrelin (GHRL) ELISA technique. A student’s t-test was carried out to find out the statistical change between different study groups.
Results: The serum total ghrelin concentrations, on average, were 51.32 pg/mL on positive group and 50.37 pg/mL on negative group, respectively. The difference of ghrelin was statistically insignificant between the two groups (P >0.05). Although the sample size of the study was small, the results showed high number of COVID-19 cases in male than female.
Conclusion: The current data shows that there are no significant changes in the level of serum ghrelin hormone in COVID-19 patients. Consequently, it might be possible that the ghrelin hormone showed potential changes in the saliva compared to the effect in the blood. Thus, a further analysis of the ghrelin hormone in the saliva of COVID-19 patients will be conducted in the near future.