Results
A total of 596 patients were included. The median age was 56.7±16.4
years (range 18-94 years), and 300 patients (50.3%) were male and 296
patients (49.7%) were female. Based on the CT findings categorization,
214 patients (35.9%) presented >50% lung involvement; 84
deaths occurred (14.09%) and 85.9% of patients were discharged. The
mean blood lymphocyte percentage was 20.35 ±10.16 (Table 1). The mean
lymphocyte percentage of COVID-19 patients with >50% lung
involvement was significantly lower than that of subjects < 50
% involvement (median of 17.36 vs. 22.03) (p=0.00) (Figure 2). All
patients were stratified into four groups according to the radiographic
and hematological findings: 74 patients (12.4%) with >
50% lung involvement and without lymphopenia; 210 patients (35.2%)
< 50% lung involvement and without lymphopenia; 140 patients
(23.5%) > 50% lung involvement and with lymphopenia, and
172 patients (28.9%) < 50% lung involvement and with
lymphopenia. The mortality was intensely found to be correlated with
lung involvement and lymphopenia in COVID-19 patients (Table 2). The
mortality rate of patients who presented > 50% lung
involvement was higher than patients without lymphopenia and lung
involvement (OR 3.4, [95% CI 1.3-8.9]). Those with lymphopenia had
a 10.5% mortality rate (OR 3.62, [95% CI 1.6-8.0]). COVID-19
patients with lymphopenia and lung involvement showed the highest
mortality rate of 36.6% (OR 9.2, [95% CI 4.32-19.78]). Length of
stay (LOS) of patients with lymphopenia and developed severe lung
involvement was correlated strongly with normal lymphocyte count and
without pulmonary involvement (p= 0.000) (Table 3). The LOS of patients
with lung involvement and lymphopenia was significantly higher than
those with lymphopenia (p= 0.014). The inflammatory marker of
platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) was also analyzed; the median PLR of
all patients was 179.58 (IQR [127.84- 245.68]. Of all COVID-19
patients with lung involvement, the mean of PLR in death cases was not
significantly associated with the discharged ones (p= 0.16). A
significant correlation was not found between PLR and length of stay
(LOS) (p=0.062; Spearman correlation coefficient: 0.077).