PLATELET COUNT AND HAEMATOCRIT AS A MARKER OF DISEASE SEVERITY IN COVID -19.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION AND AIM:Corona virus disease (COVID 19) has emerged as a pandemic with major concerns on mortality, morbidity and its impact on health-care infrastructure. The study aims to correlate platelet count and haematocrit as indicators of disease severity in COVID-19. MATERIALS AND METHODS:In this descriptive case control study, among COVID-19 tested RT-PCR positive individuals, the platelet count, haematocrit and haemoglobin levels of 81 patients admitted to the wards and 92 patients admitted to the ICU were analysed and compared. RESULTS: Comparison of Platelet values between the different groups showed that the moderate group had the highest value of 2.599286 lakh and the severe group had the least value of 2.0568 lakh. This difference was statistically signicant with a test value of 3.259 and p value of 0.041. Comparison of the haematocrit value between the two groups showed that the haematocrit levels were higher in the mild group with a t value of 1.012 but the difference was statistically non-signicant with a p value of 0.315. Comparison of haematocrit between the three groups did not show association with severity of the illness. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with lower levels of platelet count had a higher risk of severe disease among those patients admitted with COVID 19 infection. However, haematocrit values did not show any such association with severity of the disease.