Clinical laboratory characteristics in patients with suspected COVID‐19: One single‐institution experience

Abstract

Objectives Since December 2019, the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has become a worldwide pandemic. The aim of the study is to investigate the demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics in suspected COVID‐19 patients in our institution. Methods In this retrospective study, we investigated suspected COVID‐19 patients admitted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a request for an interleukin‐6 send‐out test, from March 28 to June 27, 2020. Patients' demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics were collected by chart review. Results Fifty patients suspected with COVID‐19 were included in our study, of whom 24 patients were positive with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 infection and 26 were negative. During the observation period, 30 patients were discharged, 17 died during hospitalization, and three remained in hospital. Compared to non‐COVID‐19 patients, COVID‐19 patients had older age, more comorbidities, and elevated levels of inflammation markers such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C‐reactive protein (CRP), serum ferritin, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). However, there was no significant difference in laboratory data between survivors and nonsurvivors in COVID‐19 patients in our study. Conclusion This study indicated that potential risk factors of older age, multiple comorbidities, and high levels of ESR, CRP, serum ferritin, and LDH could help the clinician to identify potential COVID‐19 patients. However, this data needs to be further validated in a larger population.

COVID-19 and diabetes mellitus: from pathophysiology to clinical management

“…These findings raise the question as to whether SARS-CoV-2 can trigger this metabolic disease. One series found 29 patients who were not known to have diabetes mellitus who developed hyperglycaemia during treatment for COVID-19, some of whom had a normal HbA 1c level on admission 126 . However, fewer paediatric patients with T1DM than expected were admitted to specialized Italian diabetes centres 127 .…”

Circulating Calprotectin as a Biomarker of COVID-19 Severity

“…Several studies have evaluated biomarkers that can help predict severe complications in COVID-19 patients including but not limited to virus load [10], interleukin (IL)-6 [25], D-dimer [26], C-reactive protein (CRP) [27], lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) [27], ferritin [27], serum amyloid A (SAA) [28,29] as well as components of the complement pathways [30,31] and others [32] (Table 1). Interestingly, combining biomarkers can increase the predictive value for COVID-19 outcomes [20].…”

Interaction of ACEI antihypertensive agent's administration with the inflammatory status at admission concerning COVID-19 clinical stay outcomes

“…Given that accumulating evidence suggests that SARS-CoV2 is associated with a hyperinflammation condition characterized by excessive release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, anti-viral agents alone will not provide the much required therapeutic effect [ 23 ]. Hence, the need to combine anti-inflammatory agents such as interferons, ACE2 inhibitors, IL-6, and Janus kinase (JAK) family inhibitors, anticoagulants and other agents involved in inflammation resolution needs to conjointly examine the inflammatory status in these patients by measuring inflammatory markers such as IL-6 or LDH [ 24 ]. Using meta-regression tests, neutrophils, lymphocytes, IL-6, ferritin, C-reactive protein, D-dimer and LDH demonstrated that hyperinflammation, blunted adaptive immune response and intravascular coagulation, playing key roles in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 [ 25 ].…”