Triglyceride/High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Ratio is associated with the mortality of COVID-19: An Observational Study (preprint)

(1) Background: Triglyceride to high density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-c) ratio is crucial when researching metabolic and vascular diseases, and its involvement in COVID-19 was sparsely elaborated on. The purpose of the study was to explore if there were any associations between the TG/HDL-c ratio and COVID-19 prognosis; (2) Methods: A total of 262 COVID-19 patients were retrospectively investigated. The clinical features and baseline hematological parameters were recorded and analyzed; (3) Results: Compared with the survivors, the non-survivors of COVID-19 had significantly higher levels of white blood cells (4.7 vs. 13.0 ×109/L; P < 0.001), neutrophils (3.0 vs. 11.6×109/L; P < 0.001), C-reactive proteins (15.7 vs. 76.7 mg/L; P < 0.001) and TG/HDL-c ratio (1.4 vs. 2.5; P = 0.001). The receiver operating characteristics curve [area under the curve, 0.731; 95% confidence interval, 0.609–0.853; P = 0.001] suggested that the TG/HDL-c ratio could predict the mortality of COVID-19. Moreover, the TG/HDL-c ratio was positively correlated with white blood cells (r = 0.255, P < 0.001), neutrophils (r = 0.243, P < 0.001) and C-reactive proteins (r = 0.170, P < 0.006); (4) Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that TG/HDL-c ratio may potentially be a predictive marker for mortality in COVID-19 patients.

Neutrophil Percentage and Neutrophil-to-Monocyte Ratio as Independent Risk Factors in the Severity of COVID-19 (preprint)

BackgroundInflammation plays an important role in progression of the various viral pneumonia containing COVID-19, severe inflammatory responses could lead to an imbalance of immune response. The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility of the white blood count, neutrophil percentage, neutrophil-to-monocyte ratio (NMR) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) at admission to reflect the clinical severity in patients with COVID‐19.MethodsClinical and laboratory data of adult COVID-19 patients in Changsha, China, were collected and analyzed on admission. A logistic regression model was adopted to analyze the association between the disease severity and related risk factors. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was utilized to analyze the abilities of potential risk factors in the prediction of COVID-19 severity.ResultsCompared with non-severe patients, the severe ones had significantly higher levels of neutrophil percentage (74.9% vs. 62.1%; P < 0.001), NLR (4.1 vs. 2.1; P < 0.001) and NMR (12.4 vs. 8.0; P < 0.001). A regression analysis showed that neutrophil percentage (OR,1.113; 95% CI, 1.020-1.213; P=0.016) and NMR (OR, 1.110; 95% CI, 1.002-1.230; P = 0.046) were significantly associated with severity of COVID-19 patients. ROC curve showed that the area under the curves of neutrophil percentage, NMR and the combination of them were 0.842 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.782-0.902), 0.790 (95% CI, 0.710-0.871) and 0.851 (95% CI, 0.790-0.911), respectively.ConclusionsNeutrophil percentage and NMR may act as independent risk factors in the severity of COVID-19.

Low high-density lipoprotein level is correlated with the severity of COVID-19 patients (preprint)

Background: The aim of the present study was to describe the clinical characteristics of patients with different levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) and analyze the correlation between HDL levels and prognosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Methods In the clinical retrospective analysis, a total of 228 adult COVID-19 patients admitted to Public Health Treatment Center of Changsha, China from January 17 to March 14, 2020 were enrolled. Median with interquartile range and Mann-Whitney test were used to depict and analyze the clinical characteristics of patients. The Kaplan-Meier (KM) curve and cox regression were adopted to analyze the association between HDLs and severe events of COVID-19 patients. Results Median levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in adult COVID-19 patients were below normal range. Compared with patients with high HDL-C, patients with low HDL-C showed higher proportion of male (69.6% vs 45.6%, P  = 0.004), higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) (median, 27.83 vs 12.56 mg/L, P  = 0.000) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (median, 21.49 vs 18.81 U/L, P  = 0.044), as well as higher proportion of severe events (37.0% vs 14.8%, P  = 0.001). Moreover, they presented a higher risk of developing severe events compared with those with high HDL-C (Log Rank P