ABSTRACT
Introduction: Since the Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) first emerged in Wuhan, on 12 December 2019, it has spread rapidly across the world and developed into a pandemic. As healthcare workers are frequently in contact with Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients, they can be affected more often than the general population. In this study we aimed to investigate the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and the IgG antibody levels among healthcare workers who frequently encountered COVID-19 patients in our hospital.Materials and Methods: In total, 182 healthcare workers were identified from database and their data was retrospectively analyzed. Participants with previous PCR positivity, pregnant, autoimmune disease history or immunosuppressive treatment history were excluded. Participants were grouped depending on their frequency of contact with COVID-19 patients (high and medium risk). All the samples were tested simultaneously for anti-SARS-CoV-2-IgG antibodies by the ELISA method. A chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables. A t-test and an ANOVA test were carried out to where appropriate.Results: Serological testing of 182 HCWs exposed to SARS-CoV-2 patients illustrated that 13.2% of them (24 out of 182) might have experienced an asymptomatic or subclinical SARS-CoV-2 infection. High risk participants, anosmia, and ageusia were statistically significant risk factors. The rate of detection of antibody positivity among doctors (p=0.030) and patients with anosmia, and ageusia (p=0.047) were found significantly higher than the others. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 antibody ratio results were found significantly higher in the groups of high risk participants (p=0.046), patients with clinical signs (p=0.008), myalgia (p=0.039), anosmia, and ageusia (p=0.025), respectively.Conclusion: Our study showed that serological testing is useful for determining asymptomatic or subclinical infections prevelance of SARS-CoV-2 among those with close contact with COVID-19 patients. Serological tests can be helpful determining the prevelance COVID-19 infection, especially among the HCWs.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: In the present study, the possibility of predicting mortality with the change in coagulation parameters depending on the severity of Covid-19-associated pneumonia was investigated. Materials and Methods: A total of 137 patients with Covid-19-associated pneumonia were included in the study. The patients were divided into three groups according to the severity of pneumonia as mild, moderate and severe. According to the severity of pneumonia, the parameters of complete blood count and the levels of biochemical parameters were compared between the groups. By examining blood parameters according to mortality, ROC analysis and regression analysis were performed to determine the net effect of these parameters on mortality. Results: As the severity of pneumonia increased, Prothrombin time (PT), International normalized ratio (INR) and Activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) values were also increased, and a statistically significant difference was found between the groups in PT and INR values. PT, INR and aPTT levels were higher in cases with mortality. Mortality can be predicted with 93.5% sensitivity and 97.5% specificity. according to the >45.1 seconds(sec) cut-off value of the coagulation parameter (aPTT +PT. Conclusion: The coagulation parameter (aPTT + PT), whose level increases secondarily to the increase in Covid-19-associated pneumonia severity, provides successful results in predicting mortality, and may be a parameter that we can recommend in clinical use.