Abstract
Aim: COVID-19 is a major threat to public health worldwide. A large proportion of COVID-19 patients is proved to develop anemia. Herein, we investigate the association between anemia and severe pneumonia. Materials & methods: 137 of COVID-19-confirmed patients admitted to Wuhan Union Hospital (Wuhan, China) from 13 February to 17 March 2020 were included. Their clinical characteristics and laboratory data were studied, and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: The anemic patients were less likely to develop fever in the early stage of COVID-19. Elevated IL-6 levels were found in anemic COVID-19 patients compared with those without anemia. COVID-19 patients with anemia had an 8.2 times greater possibility of developing severe pneumonia compared with their counterparts without anemia. Conclusion: This study comprehensively describes the clinical characteristics of anemic patients with ordinary, severe and critical COVID-19 and demonstrates the close relationship between the anemia and severe COVID-19.
Highlights
Anemic patients are less likely to develop fever in the early stage of COVID-19, which may conceal the presence of COVID-19 in patients with anemia
COVID-19 patients with anemia have elevated IL-6 compared with their counterparts without anemia, which suggests severe inflammatory reaction
As evidenced by multivariable logistic regression analyses, COVID-19 patients with anemia are 8.2 times more likely to develop severe pneumonia compared with their counterparts without anemia
Summary
COVID-19 is a major threat to public health worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics of COVID-19-confirmed patients with anemia and to further explore the relationship between anemia and COVID-19.
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