Hematologic abnormalities in moderate forms of COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Background: The number of COVID-19 infected patients is dramatically increasing worldwide. Although this infection is primarily manifested as a respiratory tract infection, emerging data indicate that it may be also a systemic disease involving multiple systems including hematopoietic system and hemostasis. Aims: This study aimed to describe the main hematologic abnormalities in patients with moderate forms of covid-19 and their course during hospitalization. Methods: We conducted a prospective study including 87 patients with coronavirus infectious disease hospitalized in departments other than Intensive Care Unit between November 16 th and December 30 th 2020. Hematologic investigations were performed on admission and during hospitalization including Blood count, Ddimers and fibrinogen. Results: Among 87 patients, 52 were males and 35 were females. The mean age was 65 years old [26-100]. The average length of hospitalization was 11 days [1-39]. Of the 87 COVID-19 infected patients, 58 (67%) had neutrophilia during hospitalization, 7 (8%) had leucopenia, 63 (72%) had lymphopenia, 13 (15%) had thrombocytopenia, 12 (13.8%) had thrombocytosis and 19 patients had myelemia >5%. Regarding D-dimers, 82 (94%) patients had d-dimers >500 ng/ ml and 68 (78%) had d-dimers>1000 ng/ml. Concerning fibrinogen, 34 (39%) patients had a rate of fibrinogen >4 g/L and 21 (17.9%) patients had a rate of fibrinogen >6 g/L. The results of hematologic investigations performed on admission, day 5 and day 10 are summarized in the table below (Table 1). Conclusions: Increased values of D dimers were found in almost all patients with moderate forms of COVID-19. These values are higher during hospitalization than on admission revealing a hypercoagulable state. The other most common haematological abnormalities were neutrophilia, lymphopenia and high values of fibrinogen.