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Clinical laboratory characteristics in patients with suspected COVID-19: One single-institution experience
Fei Fei1, John A Smith1, Liyun Cao1
1Department of Pathology, The University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Insights
Older age, comorbidities, and elevated inflammation markers like CRP and ESR may help identify COVID-19 patients. Further validation in larger populations is needed for these key findings.
Area of Science:
- Infectious Diseases
- Clinical Medicine
- Epidemiology
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has had a global impact since December 2019.
- Understanding the characteristics of patients with suspected COVID-19 is crucial for diagnosis and management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the demographic, clinical, and laboratory features of patients with suspected COVID-19.
- To identify potential risk factors and markers associated with COVID-19 infection.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective study of suspected COVID-19 patients admitted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
- Data collection included demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics via chart review.
- Analysis focused on patients with interleukin-6 (IL-6) testing requests between March 28 and June 27, 2020.
Main Results:
- Fifty patients were included: 24 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and 26 tested negative.
- COVID-19 patients were older, had more comorbidities, and showed elevated inflammatory markers (ESR, CRP, ferritin, LDH) compared to non-COVID-19 patients.
- No significant laboratory differences were found between survivors and non-survivors among COVID-19 patients.
Conclusions:
- Older age, comorbidities, and elevated inflammatory markers (ESR, CRP, ferritin, LDH) may aid in identifying potential COVID-19 cases.
- These findings require further validation in larger patient cohorts.
- The study highlights potential clinical indicators for suspected COVID-19.
Objectives:
Since December 2019, the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a worldwide pandemic. The aim of the study is to investigate the demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics in suspected COVID-19 patients in our institution.
Methods:
In this retrospective study, we investigated suspected COVID-19 patients admitted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a request for an interleukin-6 send-out test, from March 28 to June 27, 2020. Patients' demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics were collected by chart review.
Results:
Fifty patients suspected with COVID-19 were included in our study, of whom 24 patients were positive with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection and 26 were negative. During the observation period, 30 patients were discharged, 17 died during hospitalization, and three remained in hospital. Compared to non-COVID-19 patients, COVID-19 patients had older age, more comorbidities, and elevated levels of inflammation markers such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), serum ferritin, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). However, there was no significant difference in laboratory data between survivors and nonsurvivors in COVID-19 patients in our study.
Conclusion:
This study indicated that potential risk factors of older age, multiple comorbidities, and high levels of ESR, CRP, serum ferritin, and LDH could help the clinician to identify potential COVID-19 patients. However, this data needs to be further validated in a larger population.
