Temporal Dynamics in Clinical and Laboratory Manifestations During COVID-19 Progression (preprint)

ABSTRACT

BAckground Severe COVID-19 patients account for most of the mortality of this disease. Early detection of severe cases of the disease remains a major challenge. Here, we performed clinical and laboratory profiling of COVID-19 to explore the early warning indicators of severe cases.Methods An analysis of the evolution during the hospitalization of clinical and laboratory findings from 78 confirmed COVID-19 patients and the associated risk factors.Results Of the 78 patients who were classified as un-severe at admission, 60 patients(stable group) were stable as mild cases until discharge, and the remaining 18 patients progressed to severe cases(exacerbated group) during hospitalization. Compared with stable patients, exacerbated patients exhibited older, higher BMI values and higher proportion of smokers. In the exacerbated patients, the median time from onset to deterioration was 7.5 days. Before the time point(days 0–7 from onset), we observed higher-levels of White blood cells(WBC), neutrophil, Neutrophi-Lymphocyte-Ratio(NLR), Lactose-dehydrogenase(LDH), D-dimer, and lower-levels of albumin in the exacerbated group, compared with the stable group. In the second week after the time point, the exacerbated patients displayed lower numbers of lymphocytes, CD3+, and CD8+T-cells, and higher-levels of C-reactive protein(CRP), erythrocyte-sedimentation-rate(ESR), Alanine-aminotransferase(ALT),Aspartate-aminotransferase(AST), and Interleukin-6. In the third week, the highest temperature and the proportion of febrile patients declined. All of the laboratory indicators gradually improved.Conclusions Advanced age and smoking history could be risk factors for COVID-19 progression. In the early stage, high-levels of WBC and neutrophils, with noticeably increased LDH and D-dimer, could be early indicators of the disease’s conversion from mild to severe, followed by elevated inflammatory markers, liver enzymes, and decreased T-lymphocytes in the next week.