Diagnostic utility of laboratory parameters in COVID 19 patients

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Several pneumonia cases caused by new corona virus were reported in Wuhan, China, since December 2019. This evolved into global pandemic and the World Health Organization (WHO) named this virus as severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS COV-2) by the WHO. Corona viruses can manifest many infections such as respiratory, neurologic, and hepatic diseases. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study conducted in a tertiary hospital from March 2020 to January 2021. A total of 8017 cases were included in the study. The complete blood counts data were collected from records and analyzed. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were calculated. Results: The laboratory parameters studied in 8017 cases showed the following results, the NLR and PLR ratios were increased in most of the cases 45.4% and 61.5%, respectively. Also lymphopenia was seen in maximum cases (46.6%). The remaining parameters such as hemoglobin, total counts, and platelet count were in normal range in most of the cases, that is, 67.7%, 68.7%, and 81.3%, respectively. Conclusion: Our study examined the hematological parameters of large number of cases of SARS–COVID-19 patients. The significant findings of the study were that higher values of NLR, PLR, leucocytosis, neutrophilia, lymphopenia, and thrombocytosis were observed in good number of cases. Hence, lymphocytes, NLR, and PLR ratios can be used to predict the severity of disease.