Understanding the Significance of Thrombocytopenia in COVID-19 Patients: A Comparative Analysis with Normal Platelet Counts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1996/pjcm.v29i4.884Keywords:
Platelet Counts, COVID-19, ThrombocytopeniaAbstract
Background: Thrombocytopenia, characterized by abnormally low platelet counts,has emerged as a significant haematological manifestation in COVID-19 patients,raising concerns due to its potential implications on disease severity and prognosis. Objective: The study aims to study thrombocytopenia as a prognostic factorin positively detected COVID-19 patients and to investigate its relationship with thepatient's hospital length of stay and the prognosis. Methodology: About 50 patients were involved in this study from January 2022 toJune 2022. Complete blood count was done on Day 8, 16 and 24 intervals.Follow-up was done regarding the mortality and their stay in the hospital. Tenpatients were detected to be thrombocytopenic; their hospital stay duration wassignificantly higher. A high statistically significant difference was found between thethrombocytopenic patient's group and the group with the normal values of plateletcounts. It was concluded that there is an association between the hospital stayduration of patients, and poor prognosis with thrombocytopenia, in COVID-19 patients. Results: In this study of 50 patients (mean age 45.13 ± 16.78), 48.0% were male and52.0% were female. Total leukocyte count (TLC) dropped significantly over time(P=0.001): 6.93 ± 3.99 upon admission, 6.39 ± 3.43 on day 8, 6.21 ± 3.003 on day 16,and 4.211 ± 1.4123 on day 24. Hemoglobin levels also dropped significantly(P=0.001): 11.89 ± 1.99 upon admission, 10.96 ± 1.79 on day 8, 10.86 ± 1.57 on day16, and 9.624 ± 0.7456 on day 24. A significant difference (P<0.001) was observedbetween groups with normal platelet counts and thrombocytopenic countsregarding outcomes. Conclusion: Platelet count measurements on days 8, 16, and 24after admission are valuable predictors of severity in moderate COVID-19 cases.Thrombocytopenia in moderate cases is associated with longer hospital stays (allthrombocytopenic patients waited 26 days for a measurement).References
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