ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been far more devastating than expected, showing no signs of slowing down at present. Heilongjiang Province is the most northeastern province of China, and has cold weather for nearly half a year and an annual temperature difference of more than 60ºC, which increases the underlying morbidity associated with pulmonary diseases, and thus leads to lung dysfunction. The demographic features and laboratory parameters of COVID-19 deceased patients in Heilongjiang Province, China with such climatic characteristics are still not clearly illustrated. AIM: To illustrate the demographic features and laboratory parameters of COVID-19 deceased patients in Heilongjiang Province by comparing with those of surviving severe and critically ill cases. METHODS: COVID-19 deceased patients from different hospitals in Heilongjiang Province were included in this retrospective study and compared their characteristics with those of surviving severe and critically ill cases in the COVID-19 treatment center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University. The surviving patients were divided into severe group and critically ill group according to the Diagnosis and Treatment of New Coronavirus Pneumonia (the seventh edition). Demographic data were collected and recorded upon admission. Laboratory parameters were obtained from the medical records, and then compared among the groups. RESULTS: Twelve COVID-19 deceased patients, 27 severe cases and 26 critically ill cases were enrolled in this retrospective study. No differences in age, gender, and number of comorbidities between groups were found. Neutrophil percentage (NEUT%), platelet (PLT), C-reactive protein (CRP), creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), serum troponin I (TNI) and brain natriuretic peptides (BNP) showed significant differences among the groups (P = 0.020, P = 0.001, P < 0.001, P = 0.001, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, respectively). The increase of CRP, D-dimer and NEUT% levels, as well as the decrease of lymphocyte count (LYMPH) and PLT counts, showed significant correlation with death of COVID-19 patients (P = 0.023, P = 0.008, P = 0.045, P = 0.020, P = 0.015, respectively). CONCLUSION: Compared with surviving severe and critically ill cases, no special demographic features of COVID-19 deceased patients were observed, while some laboratory parameters including NEUT%, PLT, CRP, CK-MB, TNI and BNP showed significant differences. COVID-19 deceased patients had higher CRP, D-dimer and NEUT% levels and lower LYMPH and PLT counts.
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an important and urgent threat to global health. Inflammation factors are important for COVID-19 mortality, and we aim to explore whether the baseline levels of procalcitonin (PCT), C-reaction protein (CRP) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) are associated with an increased risk of mortality in patients with COVID-19. A retrospective study was conducted and a total of 76 patients with confirmed COVID-19 were included between January 17, 2020 to March 2, 2020, of these cases, 17 patients were dead. After adjusting covariates, PCT (≥ 0.10 ng/mL) and CRP (≥ 52.14 mg/L) exhibited independent increasing risks of mortality were used hazard ratio (HR) of 52.68 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.77-1571.66) and 5.47 (95% CI: 1.04-28.72), respectively. However, NRL (≥ 3.59) was not found to be an independent risk factor for death in our study. Furthermore, the elevated PCT levels were still associated with increasing risk of mortality in the old age group (age ≥ 60 y), and in the critically severe and severe patients after adjustment for complications. Thu Baseline levels of PCT and CRP have been addressed as independent predictors of mortality in patients with COVID-19.