Hematological profile of COVID-19 patients in Ramanagar district, Karnataka-A cross sectional study

ABSTRACT

Introduction and Aim: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which rapidly evolved into a pandemic infecting humans all over the world. Whether hematologic and immunologic responses play a crucial role in progression of COVID-19 is still not clear. Increasing scientific evidence has shown that abnormalities in routine hematological tests, have the potential to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infection in an economical way. Major laboratory changes indicating systemic inflammation and multi-organ impairment including hematopoietic system leading to lymphocytopenia, neutrophilia, eosinopenia, mild thrombocytopenia and ratios derived from these hematological parameters indicated severe disease and/or fatal outcomes. The aim was to study the hematological profile of Covid-19 patients admitted at a tertiary care hospital at Ramanagar district. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 260 confirmed cases of Covid-19 diagnosed at a tertiary health care centre. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, treatment, and outcome data were extracted from the institutional electronic medical records after obtaining permission from the concerned authorities. From CBC test results obtained neutrophil lymphocyte ratio was derived. Results: The present study revealed that majority of Covid positive patients presented with lymphopenia. While a significant association was observed between N/L ratio and disease severity, no significant association was seen between platelet count and severity of the disease. Conclusion: Since the results of the present study features lymphopenia among large proportion of patients and elevated N/L ratio among critically ill patients these markers could be utilized as useful prognostic indicators during the initial assessment of disease severity and thus appropriate management can be planned for such patients before the condition of the patient deteriorates.