CRP and acute respiratory distress syndrome: For inflammatory biomarkers, the elevated levels of CRP, D-dimer, and ferritin in ICU patients support the ‘cytokine storm’ theory, describing an excessive inflammatory response that can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multi-organ failure (Ravichandran et al., 2021; Abril et al., 2024; Mehta et al., 2020).