Evaluation of laboratory parameters in 1587 COVID-19 patients admitted to metropolitan hospital area of Bologna, Italy

Since the outbreak of the 2019 pandemic coronavirus disease (COVID-19), great attention has been given to identifying the main clinical features of the disease. Identification of laboratory parameters able to classify patients based on their risk is mandatory to improve their clinical management. We retrospectively evaluated twenty-six laboratory tests measured in COVID-19 positive patients admit-ted to the hospital in March and April 2020 to find any correlation between their changes and the risk of death. We divided them into surviving and non-surviving patients. A total of 1587 patients were recruited, 854 males with median age of 71 (IQR 56-81) and 733 females with median age of 77 (IQR 61-87). On admission, death was found to be positively correlated with age (p=0.001), but not with sex (p=0.640) or with hospitalization in days (p=0.827). Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), creatinine, C-reactive protein (CRP), INR, leukocyte count, lymphocyte count, neutrophil count, and procalci-tonin (PCT) demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p<0.001), suggesting their role as markers of disease severity; only lymphocyte count resulted as an independ-ent risk factor for death.

Automated summary

This study retrospectively evaluated laboratory parameters in COVID-19 positive patients admitted to the hospital in March and April 2020. The results showed that age was positively correlated with the risk of death, while sex and hospitalization days were not associated with the risk of death. Several laboratory tests, including BNP, creatinine, CRP, INR, leukocyte count, lymphocyte count, neutrophil count, and PCT, were found to be significantly different between surviving and non-surviving patients, suggesting their potential role as markers of disease severity. However, only lymphocyte count was identified as an independent risk factor for death.