Search

Objective: Our study aimed at investigating the impacts of demographic, hematological, and biochemical factors on the clinical course and the prognostic outcome in adult COVID-19 patients., Patients and Methods: This retrospective study was performed in the internal medicine departments of two hospitals, and data were extracted from the medical files of 1,700 adult COVID-19 patients (836 females, 49.2%; 864 males, 50.8%) with an average age of 48.23 ± 16.68 (range: 18-93). Clinical data included baseline descriptives, prior medical history, admission date, treatment, and hematological and biochemical blood test results. The relationship between the survival, length of hospitalization, hematological, and biochemical parameters was investigated., Results: Advanced age (p<0.001), presence of at least on comorbid disease (p=0.045), increased length of hospitalization (p=0.006), elevated white blood cell (p=0.001) and neutrophil (p=0.002) counts, increased serum levels of glucose (p=0.027), blood urea nitrogen (p<0.001), AST (p=0.006), LDH (p<0.001), CRP (p>0.001), and D-dimer (p=0.001). In contrast, diminution of serum levels of albumin (p<0.001), ALT (p=0.028), calcium (p=0.022), and platelet count (p=0.010) were associated with increased mortality. There was a positive and weak relationship between serum D-dimer levels and length of hospitalization., Conclusions: Our data imply that identifying and validating indicators that predict COVID-19 disease progression to improve health outcomes is crucial. Age, comorbidities, immunological response, radiographic abnormalities, laboratory markers, and signs of organ dysfunction may all predict poor outcomes individually or collectively. Identifying characteristics that predict COVID-19 problems is critical to guiding clinical management, improving patient outcomes, and allocating limited resources.

Introduction: Although the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients have been described; the pathogenesis of the disease and its long-term consequences are still unclear. Pulmonary fibrosis is one of these late outcomes. In this study we evaluated Interleukin-17 (IL-17), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) levels of COVID-19 infected patients with different clinical course and their effect on pulmonary fibrosis in post-COVID period., Materials and Methods: In total, 90 patients were evaluated. Among the patients who presented for a control visit between 3-12 weeks after acute infection; patients with signs of pulmonary sequelae radiologically (traction bronchiectasis, interseptal thickening, disorders in parenchyma architecture) were classified as Group I (n= 32), patients who recovered without sequelae radiologically as Group II (n= 32). The Control group included healthy individuals who did not have COVID-19, and was classified as Group III (n= 26)., Result: The mean age in Group I was significantly higher than Group II and III (p<0.001). There was a statistically significant difference between the VEGF and IL-17 values based on the patient group they are in (p<0.05). Vascular endothelial growth factor values of Group I and III were significantly lower than the patients in Group II (p<0.001). IL-17 values of Group I and II were found to be significantly lower than Group III (p= 0.005). There was no statistically significant relationship between groups in terms of IgG4 values., Conclusions: In our study, it was observed that the profibrotic effects of VEGF, IL-17, and IgG4 were not dominant in patients who recovered with pulmonary sequelae after COVID; therefore, it is thought that different mechanisms mentioned or not yet revealed may cause this outcome.

We aimed to evaluate whether there was a relationship between endocan (human endothelial cell-specific molecule-1) levels and disease prognosis in patients who presented to the emergency department with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A total of 60 patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized from the emergency department to clinical wards and a control group consisting of healthy adult individuals (n = 28), were included in the study. The majority (93.3%) of the patients were discharged after recovery; 6.7% died. The median endocan value was 243.5 ng/mL in the patient group versus 201.5 ng/mL in the control group ( P = .002). The median endocan level was 240.5 ng/mL in those discharged with recovery and 558 ng/mL in those who died ( P = .001). There was no significant relationship in hospitalization duration, sex, tomography findings, and clinical outcomes. A 202 ng/mL serum endocan level had 86.7% sensitivity and 50% specificity for COVID-19. Serum endocan levels may be a useful biomarker both for the diagnosis of COVID-19 and to predict mortality.