Introduction
The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes novel coronavirus
pneumonia (COVID-19) is the third fatal coronavirus. It first emerged in
December 2019 in China(1). The most common symptoms are fever, dry
cough, and exhaustion. Dyspnea and/or hypoxemia are common 1 week after
the onset of symptoms in severe patients. Acute respiratory distress
syndrome (ARDS), septic shock, difficult-to-correct metabolic acidosis,
coagulation deficiency, and multiple organ failure can all occur rapidly
in serious cases (2, 3). Patients with mild clinical manifestations do
not require hospitalization at first, but they may develop respiratory
symptoms by the second week, so all patients should be closely
monitored(4). According to the World Health Organization (WHO),
approximately 80 percent of sick people have mild to moderate infections
(including those with or without pneumonia), 13.8 percent have serious
infections, and 6.1 percent have critical illness (4).
The prognosis of the disease
varies depending on patient specialties. As a result, identifying and
diagnosing serious or critical patients is important. Hematological
analysis is the most commonly conducted procedure in clinics, and
complete blood count (CBC) findings are the first things that physicians
want to see in nearly all labs, outpatient and inpatient clinics. In the
current novel coronavirus pandemic, it would be very helpful for
clinicians to make a rational allocation of medical resources if the
most routine and affordable laboratory tests can be used to provide
clinicians with convenient assistance in assessing the patient’s
condition. Early clinical intervention is expected to minimize patient
mortality(4). It has been shown
that the total number of peripheral white blood cells is normal or the
number of lymphocytes is decreased in patients in the early stage of
COVID-19. Tan et al. reported that
Lymphocyte percent was inversely
linked to patient severity and prognosis, and could be used to predict
COVID-19 patient’s severity and prognosis (5). This means that patients
with SARS-CoV-2 infections will experience changes in their peripheral
blood. These adjustments can hold clues or provide guidance for COVID-19
patients’ diagnosis, care, and prognosis. The aim of this study was to
correlate CBC parameters and ferritin levels at the time of diagnosis
with the prognosis of patients hospitalized due to Covid-19.