Baseline Thrombocytopenia and Disease Severity Among COVID-19 Patients, Tibebe Ghion Specialized Hospital COVID-19 Treatment Center, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background

Thrombocytopenia and platelet indices in COVID-19 patients were important for prompt treatment and management of the disease. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of thrombocytopenia, platelet indices, and its association with disease severity among COVID-19 patients at the Tibebe Ghion Specialized Hospital, COVID-19 treatment center, Northwest Ethiopia.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 117 conveniently recruited COVID-19 patients from March to June 2021. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using a structured questionnaire and checklist, respectively. The platelet parameters were analyzed by the Mindray-BC 5800 automated hematological analyzer. ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to compare the difference between parametric and non-parametric continuous variables, respectively. Binary logistic regression was used to identify the factors associated with thrombocytopenia. A P-value < 0.05 was defined as statistically significant for all statistical tests.

Results

Among COVID-19 patients, 45, 43 and 29 were mild, moderate and severe, respectively. 65.8% of the patients were males and 34.2% were alcohol drinkers with a mean age of 50.6 ± 15.4. Moreover, 44.4% of the patients had co-morbidity. Thrombocytopenia was presented in 23.9% of the patients. It was 4.57 (95% CI: 1.30–16.07) and 6.10 (95% CI: 1.54–24.08) times more likely in the moderate and severe cases compared to mild cases, respectively. Disease severity was also associated with PDW (P-value = 0.001).

Conclusion

Even though thrombocytopenia was not presented in most moderate and severe COVID-19 patients, thrombocytopenia and PDW were associated with disease severity.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• Ethiopia
• risk stratification
• severity
• thrombocytopenia

Abbreviations

CBC, Complete Blood Count; COVID-19, Corona Virus Disease 2019; IQR, Inter Quartile Range; MPV, Mean Platelet Volume; PLT, Platelet; PCT, Plateletcrit; PDW, Platelet Distribution Width; P-LCC, Platelet Large Cell Count; P-LCCR, Platelet Large Cell Count Ratio; RT-qPCR, Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction; SARS-CoV-2, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus-2; SOP, Standard Operating Procedures.

Data Sharing Statement

All data supporting these findings is contained within the manuscript.

Consent for Publication

Not applicable. This manuscript does not contain any individual persons’ data.

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the Department of Hematology and Immunohematology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, the University of Gondar. We also wish to extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to the Tibebe Ghion Specialized Hospital staff for their willingness and support during data collection and the Amhara Public Health Institute Laboratory staff who supported CBC laboratory analysis. Finally, many thanks were given to all study participants for their willingness to participate and for providing the necessary information during the data collection.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising, or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.