Clinical findings in critical ill patients infected with SARS-Cov-2 in Guangdong Province, China: a multi-center, retrospective, observational study

Yonghao Xu; Zhiheng Xu; Xuesong Liu; Lihua Cai; Haichong Zheng; Yongbo Huang; Lixin Zhou; Linxi Huang; Yun Lin; Liehua Deng; Jianwei Li; Sibei Chen; Dongdong Liu; Zhimin Lin; Liang Zhou; Weiqun He; Xiaoqing Liu; Yimin Li

Our study population might represent most of the clinical characteristics of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Lymphocytopenia occurred in more than 90% of critically ill patients, which was similar in Wuhan cohort (6) . Moreover, we found that intubated patients had significantly lower lymphocyte counts than without intubation. Chi-square test had shown lower lymphocyte counts was more likely to be at high risk for intubation. Spearman correlation analyses showed that lymphocyte count was significantly negatively correlated with SOFA score at ICU admission. In fact, lymphocytopenia was common in viral pneumonia, particular in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) (18, 19) . It was reported that lymphocyte < 0.8*10 9 /L was an independent risk factor for 90-day mortality of viral pneumonia (20) . Therefore, lymphocytopenia may reflect the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Dynamic monitoring lymphocyte would be of clinical benefit for intensive caring the critical illness.