The effects of functional foods mixture on inflammatory cytokines and biochemical findings in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: a randomized double-blind controlled trial

Table 2 The effects of functional food intervention on blood biomarkers

Variables	Control group (n = 30)	Intervention group (n = 30)	*P-value	^**P-value	^***P-value
D-dimer (mg/l)
Baseline	0.87 ± 0.43	0.83 ± 0.44	0.75
After intervention	1.68 ± 2.03	0.99 ± 0.23	0.07	0.08	0.01
****P-value	0.04	0.07
BUN (mg/dl)
Baseline	17.37 ± 12.57	17.74 ± 4.41	0.88
After intervention	24.02 ± 11.26	17.36 ± 4.33	0.01	< 0.001	< 0.001
****P-value	< 0.001	0.69
Cr (mg/dl)
Baseline	1.27 ± 1.68	0.99 ± 0.12	0.37
After intervention	1.24 ± 0.94	0.99 ± 0.11	0.16	0.04	0.03
****P-value	0.82	0.96
SGOT (u/l)
Baseline	38.11 ± 14.62	40.82 ± 18.16	0.53
After intervention	30.55 ± 15.95	26.58 ± 3.15	0.19	0.12	0.05
****P-value	0.03	< 0.001
SGPT (u/l)
Baseline	40.19 ± 19.17	41.20 ± 21.08	0.85
After intervention	41.90 ± 26.46	41.80 ± 13.53	0.98	0.90	0.92
****P-value	0.73	0.96
LDH (u/l)
Baseline	652.80 ± 146.90	696.36 ± 147.48	0.26
After intervention	850.40 ± 66.06	670.45 ± 62.43	0.14	0.06	0.02
****P-value	0.08	0.38
Na (mEq/L)
Baseline	138.97 ± 2.64	137.68 ± 2.04	0.04
After intervention	127.18 ± 24.57	136.57 ± 1.33	0.04	0.04	0.05
****P-value	0.01	0.004
K (mEq/L)
Baseline	3.88 ± 0.28	3.84 ± 0.21	0.57
After intervention	3.90 ± 0.39	4.09 ± 0.22	0.03	0.03	0.04
****P-value	0.84	< 0.001

Abbreviations: BUN blood urea nitrogen, Cr creatinine, SGOT serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase, SGPT serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase, LDH lactate dehydrogenase, Na sodium, K potassium
Values are expressed as means ± SD. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant
^*Independent sample t-test was used for comparisons between groups at baseline and post-intervention
^**Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used for comparisons between the two groups post-intervention after adjusting for baseline values
^***Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used for comparisons between the two groups post-intervention after adjusting for baseline values plus other confounders such as age, sex, and BMI
^****Paired t-test was used to compare within group difference from baseline to post-intervention period
P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant

ISSN: 1745-6215