Hematologic complications in covid-19: Study from Kerala

Aims & Objectives: [a] To study hematologic parameters in COVID-19 patients admitted in Believer's Church Medical College and Hospital Thiruvalla, Kerala [b] To find out whether these complications are more in the elderly Patients/Materials & Methods: India has emerged as one of the worst hit countries by Coronavirus COVID-19 As per current news age group between 60 and 74 years have the highest mortality Available literature has shown that this virus has a great impact on the hematopoietic system and haemostasis We aimed to explore the hematologic complications of patients affected by this virus in our hospital over two and half month period 1st August-15th October 2020 Method-During this study period, 980 patients with fever were tested for COVID-19 Antigen and by RT PCR TRUENAT DUPLEX CHIP whenever indicated of these, 211 (21 53%) were confirmed positive for the virus Male :Female 1:1 1 The youngest was 11 days and the oldest 93 years Both are females Next complete blood counts and coagulation screen of these patients were recorded and analysed based on their admission to Intensive care units, High Dependency Units or Ward, by the Hematopathology Section of this hospital Results: Inthepresentseries49 24%weremorethan60years,29 6%in 20-49yearagegroup, 17 1% between 50 and 59 year and children 04% Derangedhematologic parameters are displayed in Figure 1 of the total 12 patients died all of whom except two were more than 60 years They presented with associated comorbidities like Chronic Renalfailure, Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension, Coronary heart disease and Chronic Liver disease In these cases deranged hematologic parameters in descending order were as follows, D-dimer 91 6%, LDH in 66 6%, Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) >4 in 50%, thrombocytopenia in 33 3% and Platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in 25% cases PT/APTT were mildly deranged or normal Discussion & Conclusion: Senior citizens with comorbidities are at a higher risk for Hematologic complications which further precipitates a downhillcourse