Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate in COVID-19 Infections

Zhang, W.; Yuan, Y.; Zhang, S.; Jin, C.; Wu, L.; Mei, H.; Miao, C.; Jiang, Z.; He, Z.

Objectives To compare the clinical characteristics between the rapid cohort and the normal cohort of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in COVID-19 infections, analyze the variables with significant differences, and explore the influencing factors of rapid ESR. Methods Selected a total of 80 patients with ESR detection during hospitalization were measured in 146 patients who received medical observation in concentrated isolation hospital in Guizhou province in China , collected and compared demographic information, epidemiological data, clinical symptoms, laboratory test data and CT image data during the observation between rapid cohort and normal group of ESR. Results By comparison, the proportion of male in the rapid cohort was higher than female. The average age was more than 35 years old, with a large age gap. The proportion of severe and critical patients was more than 26.53% (13/49). However, in the normal cohort the proportion of female was more than male, and the average age was about 8 years lower than the rapid cohort, and the age gap was smaller. The proportion of severe and critical patients was 12.90%, which was less than half of the rapid group. In the two groups, the proportion of clustered cases accounted for more than 50%, and the average number of patients in one family was more than 3. The most common clinical symptoms were cough, sputum, fever, sore throat and weakness of limbs. There were significant differences in ALT, {gamma}-GT and C-reactive protein between the rapid and normal cohort (P<0.05), but no statistically significant in other indicators. Hemoglobin and C-reactive protein have a significant effect on erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Conclusions In this study, we found that ESR is related to Hemoglobin and C-reactive protein.