Clinical laboratory characteristics in patients with suspected COVID‐19: One single‐institution experience

Fei, Fei; Smith, John A.; Cao, Liyun

OBJECTIVES: Since December 2019, the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has become a worldwide pandemic. The aim of the study is to investigate the demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics in suspected COVID‐19 patients in our institution. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we investigated suspected COVID‐19 patients admitted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a request for an interleukin‐6 send‐out test, from March 28 to June 27, 2020. Patients' demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics were collected by chart review. RESULTS: Fifty patients suspected with COVID‐19 were included in our study, of whom 24 patients were positive with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 infection and 26 were negative. During the observation period, 30 patients were discharged, 17 died during hospitalization, and three remained in hospital. Compared to non‐COVID‐19 patients, COVID‐19 patients had older age, more comorbidities, and elevated levels of inflammation markers such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C‐reactive protein (CRP), serum ferritin, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). However, there was no significant difference in laboratory data between survivors and nonsurvivors in COVID‐19 patients in our study. CONCLUSION: This study indicated that potential risk factors of older age, multiple comorbidities, and high levels of ESR, CRP, serum ferritin, and LDH could help the clinician to identify potential COVID‐19 patients. However, this data needs to be further validated in a larger population.