The association of lymphocyte count, CRP, D-Dimer, and LDH with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) : a meta-analysis

Background: The rapid progression of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its increasing burden on health systems necessitate the identification of parameters of severe infection to help in monitoring, prognoses and development of treatment algorithms. Objectives: This review aims to investigate the association of lymphocyte count, CRP, LDH, and D-Dimer with the severity of COVID-19. Methods: This review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The databases of MEDLINE/PubMed, WHO-Virtual Health Library (VHL), and ScienceDirect were used for the systematic search. Random effects model was used to estimate the pooled standardized mean differences (SMD) with the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI), using OpenMeta Analyst software. Results: A total of 11 studies, with 2437 COVID-19 patients, which fulfilled the eligibility criteria were included in the meta-analysis. The analysis revealed that lymphocyte count was significantly lower in patients with the severe form of COVID-19 (SMD = - 1.025, P value