Can Hematological Indexes Predict Prognosis in Intensive Care COVID-19 Patients?

Objective: In coronavirus disease 2019, which affects the whole world, it is difficult to predict the prognosis in advance. The tim- ing of anti-inflammatory and anti-cytokine treatments to be given in case of a bad course of the disease is very important. In this study, we aimed to determine the predictive effect of inflammation-based markers such as neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, platelet/lymphocyte ratio, systemic inflammatory index, and plasma atherogenic index on the prognosis of coronavirus disease 2019. Methods: In this retrospective study, 217 patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit with a confirmed diagnosis of corona- virus disease 2019 were included. The patients were divided into 2 groups as survivors and nonsurvivors. Indices were calculated from the laboratory results of the patients. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine whether the indices had a diagnostic value. Results: Males (n = 133) made up 61.3% of the patients, and the average age of all patients was 70.5 ± 13.7 years. The patients were identified as survivors (group 1, n=140) and nonsurvi- vors (group 2, n=77). C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, ferritin, d-dimer, lactate, urea, creatine, and neutrophil values of the patients who died in group 2 were significantly higher, while high- density lipoprotein, hemoglobin, platelet, and lymphocyte count were significantly lower. Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, platelet/ lymphocyte ratio, systemic inflammatory index, and plasma ath- erogenic index were found to be significantly higher in the group of nonsurvivor patients than in the group of surviving patients. In addition, the plasma atherogenic index (P = .024, area under the curve = 0.605, cutoff = 0.504) had the highest specificity with 80.3%, and the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio was the second with 76.1% (P < .001, area under the curve = 0.691, cutoff=17.5).