Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, platelets-to-lymphocyte ratio, and eosinophils correlation with high-resolution computer tomography severity score in COVID-19 patients.

Inflammation has an important role in the progression of various viral pneumonia, including COVID-19. Circulating biomarkers that can evaluate inflammation and immune status are potentially useful in diagnosing and prognosis of COVID-19 patients. Even more so when they are a part of the routine evaluation, chest CT could have even higher diagnostic accuracy than RT-PCT alone in a suggestive clinical context. This study aims to evaluate the correlation between inflammatory markers such as neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelets-to-lymphocytes ratio (PLR), and eosinophils with the severity of CT lesions in patients with COVID-19. The second objective was to seek a statically significant cut-off value for NLR and PLR that could suggest COVID-19. Correlation of both NLR and PLR with already established inflammatory markers such as CRP, ESR, and those specific for COVID-19 (ferritin, D-dimers, and eosinophils) were also evaluated. One hundred forty-nine patients with confirmed COVID-19 disease and 149 age-matched control were evaluated through blood tests, and COVID-19 patients had thorax CT performed. Both NLR and PLR correlated positive chest CT scan severity. Both NLR and PLR correlated positive chest CT scan severity. When NLR value is below 5.04, CT score is lower than 3 with a probability of 94%, while when NLR is higher than 5.04, the probability of severe CT changes is only 50%. For eosinophils, a value of 0.35% corresponds to chest CT severity of 2 (Se = 0.88, Sp = 0.43, AUC = 0.661, 95% CI (0.544; 0.779), p = 0.021. NLR and PLR had significantly higher values in COVID-19 patients. In our study a NLR = 2.90 and PLR = 186 have a good specificity (0.89, p = 0.001, respectively 0.92, p<0.001). Higher levels in NLR, PLR should prompt the clinician to prescribe a thorax CT as it could reveal important lesions that could influence the patient's future management.

Disease Perception and Coping with Emotional Distress During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey Among Medical Staff.

The novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, is a highly contagious infectious disease declared by the World Health Organization to be a pandemic and a global public health emergency. During outbreaks, health care workers are submitted to an enormous emotional burden as they must balance the fundamental "duty to treat" with their parallel duties to family and loved ones. The aims of our study were to evaluate disease perceptions, levels of stress, emotional distress, and coping strategies among medical staff (COVID-19 versus non-COVID-19 departments) in a tertiary pulmonology teaching hospital in the first month after the outbreak of COVID-19. One hundred and fifteen health care workers completed four validated questionnaires (the brief illness perception questionnaire, perceived stress scale, the profile of emotional distress emotional, and the cognitive coping evaluation questionnaire) that were afterwards interpreted by one psychologist. There was a high level of stress and psychological distress among health care workers in the first month after the pandemic outbreak. Interestingly, there were no differences between persons that worked in COVID-19 departments versus those working in non-COVID-19 departments. Disease perceptions and coping mechanisms were similar in the two groups. As coping mechanisms, refocusing on planning and positive reappraisal were used more than in the general population. There is no difference in disease perceptions, levels of stress, emotional distress, and coping strategies in medical staff handling COVID-19 patients versus those staff who were not handling COVID-19 patients in the first month after the pandemic outbreak.