Examining the Changes in Coagulation Parameters in Patients Infected with SARS-CoV-2 Variants (Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron)

It is known that the change in coagulation parameters has an effect on mortality and prognosis in COVID-19 patients. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has changed with mutations in the genome of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic, and the resulting variants have been recorded by the World Health Organization. With these variations, the clinical severity of the disease and laboratory parameters have also changed.

In this study, we examined the changes in D-dimer levels, fibrinogen levels, platelet count (PLT), and mean platelet volume (MPV) between SARS-CoV-2 Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351) Delta (B.1.617.2), and Omicron (B.1.1.529) variants.

The study was conducted retrospectively on 28 195 adult patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. At the time of application, data on age, gender, SARS-CoV-2 variant status, D-dimer levels (n = 7090), fibrinogen (n = 5709), PLT (n = 7066), and MPV (n = 8330) were collected. Patients were divided according to alpha, beta, delta, and omicron variants. The changes in variants were examined statistically.

The incidence of the delta variant in women was higher than the other variants, followed by alpha and omicron (P = 0.001). The Beta variant was detected at a higher rate in males. The ages of the cases with the Omicron variant were higher than the cases with Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants (P = 0.001, P = 0.001, P = 0.001, and P < 0.01, respectively). In laboratory parameters, D-dimer and fibrinogen levels were detected to be significantly higher in Delta and Omicron variants. PLT and MPV were determined to be lower in delta and omicron than in alpha and beta variants.

Examination of the changes in laboratory coagulation parameters according to variants shows that the tendency to clot increases from alpha to omicron.