Hematological Findings among COVID-19 Patients Attending King Khalid Hospital at Najran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

COVID-19 is a global pandemic viral infection that has affected millions worldwide. Limited data is available on the effect of COVID-19 on hematological parameters in Saudi Arabia. This study is aimed at examining the role of hematological parameters among COVID-19 patients admitted to King Khalid Hospital in Najran, Saudi Arabia. This is a retrospective, hospital-based study of 514 cases who were recruited during August to October 2020. 257 COVID-19 patients formed the study group, and a further 257 negative subjects formed the control group. Anemia was significantly elevated in positive subjects over controls (respectively, 64.2% and 35.8%), with patients 2.5 times more likely to be anemic ( p < 0.01 ). Thrombocytopenia was higher in patients over controls (respectively, 62% and 38%), with patients ~1.7 times more likely to be thrombocytopenic ( p < 0.01 ). Moreover, leukopenia was significantly higher in patients over controls (respectively, 71% and 29%), with positive subjects ~2.6 times more likely to be leukopenic. Our study results indicate that mild anemia associated with leukopenia may have diagnostic value for COVID-19. Careful assessment of hematological parameters, at baseline and throughout the disease path, will assist physicians in formulating personalized approaches to treatment and promptly offer intensive care to those in greater need.

D-dimer as a predictive and prognostic marker among COVID-19 patients

“…Females’ low susceptibility to COVID-19 infection may be attributed to their stronger immune response. 10 , 14 , 27 - 29 , 31 Approximately 59.9% of the COVID-19 patients group attended hospital with moderate, severe, or critical symptoms, which may be related to their weak immune response and older age, as reported in previous studies. 28 , 29 , 32 , 33 A total of 45 (40.1%) COVID-19 patients were admitted with asymptomatic or mild symptoms, which may be attributed to their good immune response, as was consistent with some reports that recorded a higher rate of asymptomatic and mild symptoms among patients at hospital admission.…”

“… 10 , 14 , 27 - 29 , 31 Approximately 59.9% of the COVID-19 patients group attended hospital with moderate, severe, or critical symptoms, which may be related to their weak immune response and older age, as reported in previous studies. 28 , 29 , 32 , 33 A total of 45 (40.1%) COVID-19 patients were admitted with asymptomatic or mild symptoms, which may be attributed to their good immune response, as was consistent with some reports that recorded a higher rate of asymptomatic and mild symptoms among patients at hospital admission. 34 In addition, the most observed symptoms were cough, fever, shortage of breath, and taste and smell disorders, which was in line with the findings of other studies.…”

“… 27 The infected patients’ mean age was 51.66 years old, which was consistent with mean ages mentioned in previous studies reported that COVID-19 infection dominated among the older population and was lower among the young population. 27 - 29 The age factor was found to be highly significant, to the tune of 9.85 times higher among older patients ( p <0.006). However, older age was recorded as one of the features associated with increased chance of death.…”

“…These findings were in agreement with large-scale and other retrospective studies that have reported thrombocytopenia in 20% of COVID-19 patients and indicted thrombocytopenia in scoring systems for severity of the disease. 21 , 28 , 29 , 34 Furthermore, a higher risk of death and bleeding was reported among patients with hypoxemia and a progressive decrease in platelet count. 9 , 21 The PT results showed a non-significant difference, which was consistent with a previous study that reported a normal PT values.…”

Alteraciones hematológicas como consecuencia de COVID-19 y sus vacunas

“…De igual forma, observaron un aumento del recuento de linfocitos, y una disminución del recuento de neutrófilos y de la relación neutrófilos/linfocitos, a medida que la severidad de la enfermedad aumentaba. Elkhalifa y colaboradores [8] en su estudio retrospectivo en 257 casos de COVID-19 confirmado y 257 controles, evaluaron los parámetros del hemograma y encontraron mayor trombocitopenia (p<0,001), anemia (p=0,074) y leucopenia (p=0,003) en los pacientes con diagnóstico de COVID-19 que en los controles. Por su parte, Al-Saadi [9] en su revisión de 25 metaanálisis, desde diciembre de 2019 a enero de 2021, determinó que los datos eran consistentes al mostrar que la linfopenia y la neutrofilia son características de la enfermedad severa, hallazgos encontrados también en el estudio de Suryawanshi [10], quien además encontró los niveles de hemoglobina significativamente más bajos en los pacientes con enfermedad severa (p<0,01).…”