A systematic review of clinical and laboratory parameters of 3,000 COVID-19 cases

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide. It is still a pandemic and poses major health problem across the globe. In our review, clinical characteristics and laboratory parameters of COVID-19 patients were compiled systematically, with special reference to pregnant women in order to understand the disease course. An extensive literature search on various scientific databases for relevant manuscripts was conducted, which yielded 7 manuscripts for final analysis. The most common symptoms were fever (85%), cough (70.63%), chest tightness (37.36%), expectoration (33.27%), fatigue (32%), dyspnea (31.95%), and shortness of breath (31.19%), while hemoptysis (1.0%) was the least common. The associated comorbidities were hypertension (21.6%) and diabetes (10.0%). In terms of hematological parameters, lower total leukocyte counts were observed in 65% of cases and biochemical parameters, patients demonstrated elevated levels of albumin (53.72%), lactate dehydrogenase (45.71%), and natriuretic peptide (34.84%); however, total bilirubin was elevated in only 8% of cases. In the acute inflammatory cytokine profile, C-reactive protein (59.0%), tumor necrosis factor (58.0%), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (57.0%), interleukin-2 (IL-2, 54.0%), and IL-6 (52.0%) levels were increased, while prolactin levels (6.5%) were minimally elevated. The recovery rate was approximately 41%, and mortality was about 6.5%. The study also concluded that the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 were similar among pregnant and non-pregnant women. There was no evidence of vertical transmission of COVID-19 infection. This review critically analyzed COVID-19 as a public health hazard in order to help policy makers, health care givers, and primary physicians to promote early diagnosis and prevention.

Perinatal COVID-19 Infection and Outcomes: A Retrospective Observational Study from a Low–Middle Income Setting

“…The SARS-CoV-2 infected pregnant women have, however, been detected to have deranged hematological and biochemical parameters such as leukopenia, elevated transaminases, and acute phase reactants. 18 Similarly, we found a significantly higher incidence of leucopenia in infected as compared to non-infected women. Leukocytosis (36.5%) in the infected group was comparable to a large meta-analysis (36%), 19 though higher than other reviews (8.8%).…”

The ratio of serum LL-37 levels to blood leucocyte count correlates with COVID-19 severity

“…Studies have already shown an association between age and COVID-19 severity. The older the patient, the higher the risk of a more severe course of COVID-19 and mortality 40 , 41 . In general, older patients have a weaker immune system and are more likely to have preexisting conditions than younger patients.…”

The Effectiveness of Pap and Visual Inspection With Acetic Acid (VIAA) Tests in Cervical Dysplasia Screenings During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Many recent studies have demonstrated the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on screening tests for cervical dysplasia [7]. These effects has been sufficiently severe that some consider the screening programs for this disease to be in a state of crisis [8][9][10]. Other studies have also shown an increasing number of women diagnosed with premalignant lesions [11][12][13].…”