Analysis of Major Laboratory Test Result Abnormalities in Mild and Severe COVID-19 Infections

Abstract

Declared a pandemic in March of 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection took thousands of lives in the Philippines and over a million worldwide in less than a year. To alleviate the problem, diagnostic procedures must be performed in order to provide the patients’ appropriate treatment regimens. Aside from these diagnostic tools, other specific laboratory values can be used to monitor the patients’ condition and aid in their treatment. This research’s general objective, derived from these laboratory values, is to associate these laboratory values with the chosen levels of severity of the infection which are mild and severe, through the use of statistical analysis. To fulfill this objective, the formulated research problem seeks to answer the question: Which laboratory test value(s) will predict the severity of COVID-19 infection through statistical analysis called logistic regression. Specific attributes were chosen to determine the study participants, mild and severely infected COVID-19 infected inpatients of the chosen tertiary hospital in Manila given no comorbidities contracted prior to the infection. The study applied a census technique to acquire the best data set to evaluate the patient history and laboratory value received from the hospital. The data was interpreted with logistic regression to determine each laboratory value’s individual efficacy to the severity of infection. With respect to the generated outcome of results, the researchers arrived at the conclusion that seven out of the eight laboratory values namely neutrophils, lymphocytes, ALT, CRP, LDH, ferritin and d-dimer were significant predictors of the severity of COVID-19 infection. Procalcitonin was not considered significant. Recommendations for the clinical setting involve focusing on the increased biomarkers (neutrophils, ALT, CRP, LDH, ferritin, and d-dimer) and control the production of these biomarkers to prevent the adversary effects that may happen if the elevation is prolonged. Meanwhile, lymphocyte count was decreased, which means that treatments that can further suppress its production should not be administered.