Hematological Manifestations of COVID-19 and Their Prognostic Significance in an Intensive Care Unit: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) started as a pathology chiefly affecting the lower respiratory tract. It was first encountered in Wuhan, China. As an infection with an unknown etiology, it was extensively studied in order to establish its profile with respect to the probable manifestations and required medical management. The hematological profile of a patient typically affected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) showed lymphopenia with an altered neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, raised inflammatory markers like D-dimer, interleukin 6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase, and serum ferritin. The prognostic significance of these markers has been studied in this cross-sectional study. Patients and methods Data were collected from consecutive subjects admitted in the intensive care unit of Acharya Vinobha Bhave Rural Hospital, Sawangi Meghe, Wardha, who were aged more than 16 years and were later confirmed to be positive for COVID-19 through throat/nasal swab (rapid antigen test/reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)). Written informed consent (by signature or thumbprint) was obtained from all participants. Statistical analysis was done by using descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of the chi-square test and z-test for the difference between two means. The software used in the analysis was SPSS 27.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) and GraphPad Prism 7.0 (GraphPad Software, San Diego, CA). P