Analysis of blood index characteristics in COVID-19 patients and their associations with different outcomes

Abstract

The clinical implications of different blood indices in patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) were analyzed at different stages. We compared blood test results of 17 COVID-19 patients treated in Jinhua Central Hospital between January 1 and March 5, 2020 at different stages. We also compared the initial blood results of 17 COVID-19 patients with 115 influenza virus A/B (Flu A/B)-positive patients, 19 Mycoplasma pneumonia (MP)-positive patients and 50 healthy subjects (HSs). (1) The white blood cell count (WBC) and absolute neutrophil count (NEU#) were lower in the SARS-CoV-2 group than in the MP and Flu A/B groups; the eosinophil percentage (EO%) and absolute eosinophil count (EO#) were lower in the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) group than in the MP group (p<0.05). (2) Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels were significantly lower when patients were discharged from the hospital (p<0.05), EO% and EO# recovered at discharge, and returned to normal levels during follow-up (p<0.05). (3) When the throat swab was nucleic acid-negative but the stool was still positive, lymphocyte percentage (LY%) and absolute lymphocyte count (LY#) decreased (p<0.05). (4) As the cycle threshold (Ct) value of the nucleic acid increased or decreased, EO# showed a consistent trend. Blood cell count indices upon hospital admission could be helpful to give some tips of diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2-infection, Flu A/B-infection and MP-infection; AST and EO# could be used to predict the outcome of patients. Feces turned negative for nucleic acid more slowly than throat swabs; LY# was lower during the fecal-positive period and low Ct values of fecal nucleic acid were negatively associated with the patient's recovery level.