tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Infect Public Health
. 2021 Sep 30;14(11):1650-1657.
doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2021.09.021. Online ahead of print.
Haematological and radiological-based prognostic markers of COVID-19
Suliman A Alsagaby[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Abdulrhman Aljouie[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Talal H Alshammari[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Shabir Ahmad Mir[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Fahad A Alhumaydhi[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Waleed Al Abdulmonem[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Hesham Alshaalan[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Hassan Alomaish[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Rayyan Daghistani[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Ali Alsehawi[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Naif Khalaf Alharbi[SUP] 11 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has emerged in 2019 and caused a global pandemic in 2020, manifesting in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The majority of patients exhibit a mild form of the disease with no major complications; however, moderate to severe and fatal cases are of public health concerns. Predicting the potential prognosis of COVID-19 could assist healthcare workers in managing cases and controlling the pandemic in an effective way. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to search for biomarkers associated with COVID-19 mortality and predictors of the overall survival (OS).
Methods: Here, clinical data of 6026 adult COVID-19 patients admitted to two large centers in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh and Hafar Al-Batin cities) between April and June 2020 were retrospectively analysed.
Results: More than 23% of the study subjects with available data have died, enabling the prediction of mortality in our cohort. Markers that were significantly associated with mortality in this study were older age, increased d-dimer in the blood, higher counts of WBCs, higher percentage of neutrophil, and a higher chest X-ray (CXR) score. The CXR scores were also positively associated with age, d-dimer, WBC count, and percentage of neutrophil. This supports the utility of CXR scores in the absence of blood testing. Predicting mortality based on Ct values of RT-PCR was not successful, necessitating a more quantitative RT-PCR to determine virus quantity in samples. Our work has also identified age, d-dimer concentration, leukocyte parameters and CXR score to be prognostic markers of the OS of COVID-19 patients.
Conclusion: Overall, this retrospective study on hospitalised cohort of COVID-19 patients presents that age, haematological, and radiological data at the time of diagnosis are of value and could be used to guide better clinical management of COVID-19 patients.
Keywords: COVID-19; Haematology; Marker; Prognosis; Radiology.
. 2021 Sep 30;14(11):1650-1657.
doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2021.09.021. Online ahead of print.
Haematological and radiological-based prognostic markers of COVID-19
Suliman A Alsagaby[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Abdulrhman Aljouie[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Talal H Alshammari[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Shabir Ahmad Mir[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Fahad A Alhumaydhi[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Waleed Al Abdulmonem[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Hesham Alshaalan[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Hassan Alomaish[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Rayyan Daghistani[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Ali Alsehawi[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Naif Khalaf Alharbi[SUP] 11 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 34627060
- PMCID: PMC8482558
- DOI: 10.1016/j.jiph.2021.09.021
Abstract
Background: Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has emerged in 2019 and caused a global pandemic in 2020, manifesting in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The majority of patients exhibit a mild form of the disease with no major complications; however, moderate to severe and fatal cases are of public health concerns. Predicting the potential prognosis of COVID-19 could assist healthcare workers in managing cases and controlling the pandemic in an effective way. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to search for biomarkers associated with COVID-19 mortality and predictors of the overall survival (OS).
Methods: Here, clinical data of 6026 adult COVID-19 patients admitted to two large centers in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh and Hafar Al-Batin cities) between April and June 2020 were retrospectively analysed.
Results: More than 23% of the study subjects with available data have died, enabling the prediction of mortality in our cohort. Markers that were significantly associated with mortality in this study were older age, increased d-dimer in the blood, higher counts of WBCs, higher percentage of neutrophil, and a higher chest X-ray (CXR) score. The CXR scores were also positively associated with age, d-dimer, WBC count, and percentage of neutrophil. This supports the utility of CXR scores in the absence of blood testing. Predicting mortality based on Ct values of RT-PCR was not successful, necessitating a more quantitative RT-PCR to determine virus quantity in samples. Our work has also identified age, d-dimer concentration, leukocyte parameters and CXR score to be prognostic markers of the OS of COVID-19 patients.
Conclusion: Overall, this retrospective study on hospitalised cohort of COVID-19 patients presents that age, haematological, and radiological data at the time of diagnosis are of value and could be used to guide better clinical management of COVID-19 patients.
Keywords: COVID-19; Haematology; Marker; Prognosis; Radiology.