CBC Differences between Survived and Deceased COVID-19 Patients: A Cohort Study

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic showed the importance of simple, low-cost, and accessible tests for patient triage. Complete Blood Count (CBC) can be considered a good option for predicting the prognosis of COVID-19 and daily follow-up of hospitalized patients.  

CBC tests of 100 COVID-19 patients admitted to the general ward or intensive care unit (ICU) were monitored for ten days. Routine laboratory tests were also performed. In addition, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were calculated at the time of admission.  

The WBC count of the ICU-admitted patients was significantly lower than in the non-ICU-admitted group (P = 0.008). The mean lymphocyte percentage of deceased patients was significantly lower than in the survived patients (P = 0.041), whereas the mean neutrophil percentage of the former group was higher than the latter (P = 0.012). Moreover, the mean monocyte percentage of the survivors was significantly more than that of non-survivors (P = 0.003). However, there was no significant difference in mean platelet counts, hemoglobin levels, and red blood cell count between the studied groups.  

A lower WBC, lymphocyte percentage, and monocyte percentage, in addition to a higher neutrophil percentage, may indicate a poor prognosis in moderate to severe COVID-19 patients.