Contribution of Laboratory Findings in Assessing the Severity of Covid-19 Infection: In A Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Background: In December 2019 first case of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was reported in China and then has spread across the world. With the use of biomarkers categorising patients becomes easier and can help clinicians in identifying patients with higher risk of disease progression and initiating effective management in time and thereby reducing the mortality due to COVID-19. Methods: The Data was collected retrospectively from medical records of 126 hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from a tertiary care hospital between August and September 2020. Laboratory parameters on admission in patients who required intensive care unit (ICU) support and those who did not require ICU support were compared. Results: The patients who required ICU care (n = 47) were older (median, 55 vs. 49 years), with more underlying comorbidities (42.5% vs. 17.7%). ICU patients had higher leucocytes, neutrophils, Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), urea, creatinine, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and D-dimer but lower lymphocyte count when compared with non-ICU patients (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Elevated D-dimer and NLR appear to be independent biomarkers for severe COVID-19 infection. These laboratory parameters may help the clinicians to determine the patients who have a higher risk of disease progression and thus initiate effective treatment in time.