• Amal E Abd El-Lateef, Manar M Ismail, Gamal Thabet, and Nur-Anna Cabrido.
• From the Department of Clinical Pathology (Abd El-Lateef), Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta; from the Department of Laboratory Medicine (Ismail, Thabet), National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt; from the Laboratory Department (Abd El-Lateef), Faculty of Applied Medical Science, Umm Al-Qura University; from the Laboratory Department (Thabet, Cabrido), Security Force Hospital, Makkah, and from the Laboratory Department (Ismail), Al-Bishry hospital, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Med J. 2022 Jun 1; 43 (6): 572-578.

ObjectivesTo evaluate the role of different peripheral blood count parameters as a cheap and rapid test in determination of coronavirus disease -19 (COVID-19) severity and patients' outcome.MethodsThe data of 462 confirmed COVID-19 patients who attended at the Security Force Hospital, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, from October 2020 to March 2021 was retrospectively reviewed and C. Patients with viral infection and respiratory diseases other than COVID-19 were excluded from the study. Complete blood count parameters were compared in accordance with the severity of the clinical presentation, age, and disease outcome.ResultsA total of 277 (60%) were male and 185 (40%) female. Clinically, 32 (6.9%) had severe illness and 430 (93.1%) showed moderate clinical disease. Organ failure occurred in 2.8% of the patients. There was significant leucocytosis, neutrophilia, lymphopenia, high neutrophil-lymphocyte (N/L) ratio, and anemia in patients with severe COVID-19 diseases as well as in non-survivors' cases (p<0.001). Similarly, the inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein [CRP] and serum ferritin) were significantly elevated in the above-mentioned 2 groups (p<0.001). Significant decrease of the platelets count was detectable in clinically severe cases and non-survivors (p<0.01). Older age (>60 years) was associated with high leucocyte, neutrophil count, lymphopenia, anemia, organ failure, and poor outcome.ConclusionLeucocytosis, neutrophilia, lymphopenia, and high N/L ratio together with elevated serum level of ferritin and CRP are eminent features of COVID-19 severity. The inclusion of these parameters in the regimens for patients' categorization on admission will enable early effective intervention and proper decision making during clinical case management.Copyright: © Saudi Medical Journal.

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