The Follow-Up of Biomarkers Better Predicts the Poor Outcome in COVID-19 Patients.

Objective: To investigate the course of biomarkers on admission and follow-up in order to identify early predictors for poor outcome in COVID-19 patients.

Methods: In this study, 132 COVID-19 patients were classified as good outcome (n=62) and poor outcome (n=70) groups. Laboratory parameters were evaluated on admission and within 5-7 days after hospitalization.

Results: Baseline levels of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, CRP, procalcitonin, ferritin, D-dimer and LDH were higher (<0.01); lymphocyte count was lower in the poor outcome patients. During follow-up there was a larger decrease in lymphocyte count and more prominent increases in other biomarkers (<0.001). In ROC analysis, the AUCs strongly indicated the poor outcome on days 5-7 of the hospitalization.

Conclusions: This study suggests that the follow-up measurements of the biomarkers better predict the poor outcome in COVID-19 pneumonia.