Lymphocytes screening on admission is essential for predicting in-hospital clinical outcome in COVID-19 patients: A retrospective cohort study
Funding information
This work was supported by the Wuhan Young and Middle-aged Medical Backbone Talents Training Project (Wuweitong [2019] 87th), and the Military Medical Science and Technology Youth Cultivation Project (20QNPY092).
Abstract
Introduction
We aimed to identify the associations between the lymphocytes (LYM) absolute count on admission and clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients.
Methods
In this retrospective study, 224 COVID-19 patients who were admitted to General Hospital of Central Theater Command of the PLA from January 22 to April 4, 2020, were consecutively included. These patients were divided into the lymphopenia group and the nonlymphopenia group according to whether the LYM count on admission was below the normal range.
Results
During hospitalization, patients in the lymphopenia group have a much higher all-cause mortality (14.5% vs 0.0%; P < .001) and an evidently longer length of hospital stay (24.0 vs 17.5 days; P < .001) than patients in the nonlymphopenia group. The correlation analysis results indicated that the LYM count was negatively correlated with the values of NEU (R = −.2886, P < .001), PT (R = −.2312, P < .001), FIB (R = −.2954, P < .001), D-D (R = −.3554, P < .001), CRP (R = −.4899, P < .001), IL-6 (R = −.5459, P < .001), AST (R = −.2044, P < .01), Cr (R = −.1350, P < .05), CPK (R = −.2119, P < .01), CK-Mb (R = −.1760, P < .01), and LDH (R = −.4330, P < .001), and was positively correlated with the count of PLT (R = .2679, P < .001). In addition, LYM as a continuous variable was associated with 97% decreased risk of in-hospital mortality in the fully adjusted models (OR = 0.03, 95%CI, 0.00-0.37, P < .001).
Discussion
LYM screening on admission is a critical predictor for assessment of disease severity and clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19, and lymphopenia substantially correlates with poor clinical outcomes.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors have no competing interests.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
