Disclosing Morbidity and Mortality by Routine Blood Analyses of the Emergency Room in Omicron COVID-19 Patients. A Retrospective Study (preprint)

SARS-CoV-2 is the Coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though we are no more in a pandemic situation, people are getting infected some of them needing hospitalization, and a few of them die. Methods: We did a retrospective study including 445 patients who accessed the Emergency Section of Policlinico Umberto I, Rome, Italy, where they had routine blood exams. In this study, we concentrated on the complete blood count, creatinine, and azotemia. The data was analyzed using ANOVA, Spearman correlation, and ROC analysis. They were divided into four groups based on their outcome: (1) the emergency group (patients with mild forms who were quickly discharged); (2) the hospital ward group (patients who after admission to the emergency section were hospitalized in a COVID-19 ward); (3) the intensive care unit (ICU) group (patients that after the admission in the emergency section required intensive assistance); (4) the deceased group (patients that after the admission in the emergency section had a fatal outcome). Results: We found significant changes for creatinine, azotemia, hematocrit, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, basophils, monocytes, red blood cell distribution width, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and red blood cell numbers by ANOVA according to their outcomes, particularly for the deceased group. Also, we found outcome correlations for eosinophils, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, lymphocyte, neutrophil, platelet, and red blood cell number and red blood cell distribution width. Conclusions: This study discloses an association between “classical” routine blood biomarkers and the severity of outcomes in Omicron patients.

Interplay between Male Testosterone Levels and the Risk for Subsequent Invasive Respiratory Assistance among COVID-19 Patients at Hospital Admission (preprint)

Purpose: to evaluate the prognostic value of male serum total testosterone (TT) levels among COVID-19 patients requiring an invasive respiratory assistance at hospital admission.Methods: 29 men with full haemato-chemical blood sample panel at hospital admission for COVID-19 related respiratory syndrome were retrospectively reviewed. Multivariable logistic regression model was implemented to test the predictive role of TT levels and subsequent risk for invasive oxygenation after adjusting for age, comorbidities and life-style related confounders.  Results: higher serum TT levels (ng/mL) were found independently associated with a lower odd of invasive oxygenation (Odds ratio [OR]: 0.43, 95%CI: 0.23-0.85; p=0.016). Significant negative correlation was found between TT and C-reactive protein, pH, Interleukine-6 and D-Dimer while positive correlation was established among TT levels and Monocytes (x109/L).Conclusion: low testosterone levels may play a relevant role in the natural history of COVID-19 respiratory syndrome by making a patient with comorbidities and higher baseline levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines more susceptible to a potentially fatal clinical course at the moment of infection progression.