Introduction: Diagnostic efficiencies of laboratory parameters used in COVID-19 patients and their association with disease severity were evaluated.
Materials and Methods: Laboratory parameters of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Dr. Lütfi Kırdar Kartal City Hospital between March and August 2020 were evaluated. The patients were grouped as non-severe and severe according to the interim guidance of the World Health Organization (WHO). The diagnostic performances of NLR, D-dimer, CRP, procalcitonin, IL-6, LDH, and ferritin in discrimination of severe cases were evaluated by Receiver operator’s characteristics (ROC) analysis. Generalized lineer model Analysis (GLM) was performed with mortality as a dependent variable and age, gender, NLR, D-dimer, CRP, Procalcitonin, IL-6, LDH, and ferritin as an independent variables.
Results: A total of 257 patients were evaluated and there was a significant difference between non-severe and severe cases in terms of NLR, D-dimer, CRP, Procalcitonin, IL-6, LDH, and Ferritin values. All the parameters showed comparable performances in discriminating severe disease; D-dimer with the least (AUC 73.5%), and NLR with the highest (AUC 80.7%) efficiency. Values above 4.5 for NLR, 930 ug/L for D-dimer, 64 mg/L for CRP, 0.136 ug/L for procalcitonin, 44.3 pg/mL for IL-6, 304 IU for LDH, and 312 ug/L for ferritin were associated with severe disease. Contribution of age, NLR, D-dimer, and CRP were found significant on the model.
Conclusions: NLR, D-dimer, CRP, procalcitonin, IL-6, LDH, and ferritin showed comparable performances in discriminating severe cases with predefined cut-offs. Age, NLR, D-dimer, and CRP may be considered as predictors of mortality in COVID-19 patients.