Laboratory Findings and Outcomes of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 patients have various laboratory findings associated with severe conditions and higher mortality rates. We conducted this study to evaluate the laboratory changes and their effect on the mortality of critically ill patients with COVID 19.

Methods: This cohort study evaluated the laboratory changes in 192 patients admitted to intensive care units of Imam Khomeini hospital complex, Tehran, Iran. The patients with manifestations of severe COVID-19 of both sexes and older than 16 years were enrolled in the study. The primary outcome was the laboratory changes, and the secondary outcome was the death or survival of the patients. The laboratory data were recorded on the admission day, followed daily by the changes and the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). The laboratory changes of two groups of survived or non-survived patients were compared by chi-square for categorical variables. An independent sample t-test was applied to study the differences between the two groups' continuous variables. Values are shown as mean±SD.

Results: Of all the 192 patients, 123 (64.06%) were male, and 69 (35.93%) were female. The survived group was 86 (44.79%), and the non-survived group was 106 (55.20%). Age (62.31±13.77), sex, and BMI (27.34±4.63) were not significantly different in the two groups (P value= .248, .368, and .444, respectively). NLR, lactate dehydrogenase/lymphocyte (LDH/LYM) ratio were significantly different in the two groups (P value= .000, .004, respectively).

Conclusion: COVID-19 patients have a variety of laboratory findings. NLR and LDH/LYM ratios have a prognostic value in severe COVID-19 patients.