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).