Epidemiological, Clinical, and Laboratory Findings of 235 Hospitalized COVID-19 Adult Patients (Survivors and Non-Survivors) at Sohar Hospital in Oman

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients at the Sohar Hospital, Sohar, Oman.

Methods: This retrospective study of admitted COVID-19 patients at Sohar Hospital in Oman was carried out from March to October 2020. Demographics and laboratory data of 19 tests for 235 COVID-19 patients, of which 202 were survivors and 33 were non-survivors, were collected from the hospital information system after ethics approval.

Results: Thirteen factors were significantly correlated with in-hospital mortality, including older age, having chronic disease, high neutrophil count, high troponin T, high creatinine, low albumin (p < 0.0001), high white blood cell (WBC) count, low hemoglobin, high D-dimer (p < 0.001), high C-reactive protein (CRP) (p < 0.002), low lymphocyte count (p < 0.003), high alkaline phosphatase (ALP) enzyme (p < 0.007) and high ferritin (p < 0.045). The most common laboratory blood test abnormalities that were highly correlated with mortality were increased values of CRP (100% of non-survivors), D-dimer (94.1% of non-survivors), ferritin (88.2% of non-survivors), and troponin T (85% of non-survivors) and reduced lymphocyte count (73.9% of non-survivors).

Conclusion: These findings could help in categorizing COVID-19 patients for risk-based assessment and early identification of patients with poor prognosis.

Keywords: coronavirus; covid-19; d-dimer; elevated c-reactive protein (crp); epidemiology; high ferritin; high troponin t; laboratory investigation; prognosis; survival.

Figure 1. The most common laboratory blood test alterations in COVID-19 non-survivors compared to survivors.

COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019; CRP: C-reactive protein