The Effect of Blood Lactate Level on Mortality in COVID-19 Positive Patients

Aim: We aimed to investigate the relationship between increased lactate values and mortality in COVID-19 patients. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in a tertiary training and research hospital. According to the order of application, a total of 316 patients over the age of 18 who were admitted to the emergency department (ED) with symptoms of COVID-19 during the two months and whose data could be completely accessed were included in the study retrospectively. Plasma lactate values and mortality within 28 days were determined. Results: The median age of the patients was 69 years. Of the patients, 53.5% were male, 72.2% had comorbidities, and the most common comorbidity was COPD (13.0%). Of the patients, 83.5% were hospitalized. The mean lactate value of the patients was 2.05 +/- 1.45mmol / L. Mortality developed in 14.2% of the patients during the first 28 days. The 28-day mortality was significantly higher in patients with a positive Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) (23.8%) than that of negative PCR (8.2%) (p < 0.001). The lactate level was found to be significantly different in both PCR positive and negative groups in which mortality developed within 28 days (p < 0.001;p < 0.001). If the cut-off value of lactate in terms of mortality was 2.45, the sensitivity and specificity were determined as 80.0% and 81.2%, respectively. Conclusion: In patients with COVID-19 infection, the blood lactate level examined at the first admission to ED can be used as a practical screening test to predict mortality.

Qtc interval and electrocardiographic findings of covid-19 patients

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of using the QTc interval and electrocardiographic (ECG) findings to predict 28-day all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19. Material and Methods: Patients aged 18 or older who visited ED with complaints of fever, cough and shortness of breath were tested using real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, were imaged with CCT, underwent ECG, and consequently, diagnosed with COVID-19 were included in this study. Results: A total of 276 patients were included in the study. When at least one comorbid disease, reduced oxygen saturation, ECG findings of prolonged QTc interval, ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation, left bundle branch block and ST segment elevation/depression or severe lung involvement (four or five lobes) on CCT scans were detected, patients had a higher 28-day all-cause mortality rate. Compared to surviving individuals, deceased patients had approximately 4.5-fold increased D-dimer levels, and approximately 5-fold increased C-reactive protein and troponin T levels. Among the deceased patients, 40% had sinus tachycardia. Discussion: Usage of comorbidities, ECG, laboratory tests and CCT together is useful for predicting 28-day all-cause mortality rate in patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

Lymphocyte/mean platelet volume ratio, a new marker; is it effective in predicting the prognosis of COVID-19 cases?

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to determine the prognostic significance of the lymphocyte/mean platelet volume ratio (LMR) in terms of the clinical course of the disease in patients with COVID-19. METHODS: Patients over 18 who were evaluated for COVID-19 during the period from April 1, to April 30, 2020 were retrospectively scanned. Patients with at least 1 positive PCR test result were as assigned to Group 1 while patients with negative test results were assigned to Group 2. The LMR ratio was calculated by dividing the lymphocyte value by that of MPV. The relationship between LMR, severity of patients' CT findings and 28-day mortality was evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 938 patients were included in the study. It was observed that the lymphocyte and LMR levels were significantly different in those who died within 28 days (p < 0.001, p ≤ 0.001). In the ROC analysis for the LMR level, the area under the curve (AUC) was found to be 0.737 (95% CI 0.639‒0.834). When the cut­off value of LMR was 0.045, the sensitivity was found to be 99.0 % and specificity was 15.2 %. CONCLUSION: LMR can be a guide in multiple cases of care provided to critical patients, as is the case in the COVID-19 pandemic and can be used in recognizing critical patients (Tab. 5, Fig. 1, Ref. 21).

Analysis of top cited 100 articles about covid-19

Introduction: Following a series of pneumonia cases of unknown origin in Wuhan, China on December, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 as “COVID-19” on 11, February. A month later, the WHO declared the pandemic status. Since then, literature on COVID-19 has grown rapidly. In this article, our aim was to provide a scientometric analysis of the most popular publications on COVID-19. Materials and Methods: We analysed the top 100 most cited articles by entering the term “COVID-19” to Web of Science© database. The top 100 articles were extracted and investigated according to citation times, number of citations per publication, countries, journals and study fields. Also, top 10 articles are summarized. Results: All top 100 articles were written in English and published in 2020. Majority of the articles were published in May (n=26). China was the most productive country with 51 publications and a total of 40,973 citations (61.1%). New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) were the most popular journals with a total of 24 articles and 20,463 citations. Lancet had the highest rate with a mean of 1276.7 citations per 7 publications. The most commonly studied field was related to the complications of the disease (n=18, a total of 8472 citations, 470.6 citations per publications). However, the most cited field was clinical findings of the disease (n=14, a total of 18255 citations). Publications regarding clinical findings of the disease also had the highest number of citations per publications (citations per publications=1303.9). Conclusion: China ranked in the first place according to number of both publications and citations. New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA shared the first place in popularity. Researchers commonly focused on Complications of the disease, treatment methods and clinical findings. © 2021 A. CARBONE Editore. All rights reserved.