The Value of Common Laboratory Markers in Predicting the Severity of COVID-19 Patients

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Clinical Chemistry
• Hematology

Background:

• COVID-19 poses significant public health challenges, necessitating accurate methods for assessing disease severity and predicting patient outcomes.
• Early identification of severe cases and monitoring disease progression are crucial for effective patient management and resource allocation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify novel and effective laboratory markers for assessing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity.
• To evaluate the predictive value of various laboratory markers and clinical variables for disease progression in COVID-19 patients.

Main Methods:

• Collected epidemiological characteristics, blood cell counts, cytokines, and infection markers from 126 COVID-19 patients.
• Utilized receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and logistic regression (univariate and multivariate) to assess predictive values of laboratory markers.
• Analyzed changes in marker levels during hospitalization for recovered and deteriorated severe patients.

Main Results:

• Albumin to fibrinogen ratio (AFR), Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), myoglobin (MYO), C-reactive protein (CRP), and lymphocyte count demonstrated high predictive value in distinguishing severe from non-severe COVID-19 cases.
• Multivariate analysis identified CD19+ lymphocyte count, MYO, LDH, and AFR as independent predictors of severe COVID-19.
• Changes in Lymphocyte count, AFR, LDH, and CRP levels during hospitalization were associated with disease progression, with distinct patterns observed in recovered versus deteriorated patients.

Conclusions:

• CD19+ lymphocyte count, MYO, LDH, and AFR serve as independent biomarkers for the early identification of severe COVID-19.
• Lymphocyte count, AFR, LDH, and CRP levels are valuable in predicting the clinical progression of COVID-19, aiding in patient monitoring and management.