PATHOLOGICAL PARAMETERS HELPFUL IN SCREENING AND STRATIFICATION OF COVID-19 PATIENTS

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of various screening tests in stratification and triage of patients suffering from Covid-19.

Methods:  A retrospective study conducted at Departments of Pathology and Medicine Gajju Khan Medical College Swabi from 1^st January 2021 to 31^st August 2021.where was this study undertaken and from? To ?. After ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional ethical/review board of GKMC/BKMC,. 08 ml of blood from each patient was collected. 05 ml blood was put in a tube containing anti-coagulant while remaining blood was put in a tube without anti-coagulant.  Both tubes were sent to laboratory for various patholological parameters like complete blood count (CBC), Hb level, prothrombin time (PT), blood sugar, urea, C-reactive protein (CRP) and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH). For hematological parameters hematology analyzers were used while biochemical parameters were performed by automated chemistry analyzer. D-dimer was determined semi quantitively by Latex agglutination test.

Results: A total of 200 Covid-19 patients diagnosed on PCR, were included in the study. Out of 200  patients 30 (15%) were anemic, 80 patients (40%) had leukocytosis; 74% (148) having lymphocytosis, 03% (06) had leukocytopenia and 02 % (04) patients having absolute neutropenia. Regarding D-dimer level, 160 (80 %) patients had level of more than 250-500 ng/ml while 20 % (40) patients had 500-1000ng/ml. There was a significant difference in the level of D-dimer of mild to moderate versus severely ill patients (p=0.0002). Biochemical parameters were mostly deranged in critically ill patients showing great significance in terms of p-value (p=0.003).

Conclusions:  Significant correlation was found in the severity of the disease and values of pathological screening parameters. Moreover, these parameters were successfully utilized for stratification of Covid-19 patients.