Aim: To observe the frequency, severity and susceptibility to develop the severe symptoms of acute respiratory distress syndrome in confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19.

Study design: Cross sectional observational study.

Place and duration of study: Lahore General Hospital, Lahore.

Methodology: After Ethical Committee approval in 164 patients of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 who underwent the complication of ARDS were enrolled, admitted in department of Medicine and Intensive Care Unit at Lahore General Hospital, Lahore. After taking consent we studied different features in these patients like age, gender, comorbidities, symptoms, their radiological findings, SATS, PO2/FIO2 ratio, serum ferritin, CRP, LDH and d-dimer levels, and results were analyzed.

Result: Out of 164 patients, 103 were COVID-19 positive. Mostly middle aged to old males developed the complications of ARDS. The most common symptoms observed were fever, cough and shortness of breath. Most common comorbidities present in the patients were diabetes and hypertension. HRCT was done in severe cases and 25 out of 35 patients had either unilateral or bilateral lung opacities. On chest X-ray 76% patients had bilateral lung infiltrates and 12% patients were having unilateral infiltrates. Inflammatory markers such as CRP, serum LDH, serum Ferritin, D-dimers were raised in most of the patients who developed moderate to severe ARDS.

Conclusion: We concluded that the middle aged to old males with comorbidities like diabetes and hypertension are more likely to undergo ARDS. They can present with shortness of breath alone or in combination with fever and cough. Their X-ray usually showed bilateral patchy infiltrates and their ferritin, CRP, LDH and d- dimer levels are usually high.

Keywords: ARDS, COVID-19, Inflammatory Markers