ABSTRACT
Introduction Blood test alterations are crucial in SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19) patients. Blood parameters, such as lymphocytes, C reactive protein (CRP), creatinine, lactate dehydrogenase, or D-dimer, are associated with severity and prognosis of SARS CoV-2 patients. This study aims to identify blood-related predictors of severe hospitalization in patients diagnosed with SARS CoV-2. Methods Observational retrospective study of all rt-PCR and blood-test positive (at 48 hours of hospitalization) SARS CoV-2 diagnosed inpatients between March-May 2020. Deceased and/or ICU inpatients were considered as severe cases, whereas those patients after hospital discharge were considered as non-severe. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify predictors of severity, based on bivariate contrast between severe and mild inpatients. Results The overall sample comprised 540 patients, with 374 mild cases (69.26%), and 166 severe cases (30.75%). The multivariate logistic regression model for predicting SARS CoV-2 severity included lymphocytes, C reactive protein (CRP), creatinine, total protein levels, glucose and aspartate aminotransferase as predictors, showing an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.895 at a threshold of 0.29, with 81.5% of sensitivity and 81% of specificity. Discussion Our results suggest that our predictive model allows identifying and stratifying SARS CoV-2 patients in risk of developing severe medical complications based on blood-test parameters easily measured at hospital admission, improving health-care resources management and distribution. © 2021 International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. All rights reserved.