Evaluating laboratory parameters of COVID-19 cases with underlying chronic diseases

Objective: COVID-19 infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 which was initially detected in China during the last days of 2019 has spread to the whole world in a short period of time causing a pandemic with devastating results. In performing this study, we aimed to reveal the differences in laboratory findings of COVID-19 cases accompanied by chronic diseases compared to the cases without any pre-existing medical condition. Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study and consists of 226 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who applied to health institutions in Bolu, Turkey between 11.03.2020 and 26.05.2020. Results: The mean age of the patients included in the study was 61.95 +/- 16.82 (min:32-max:93), 126 (55.8%) of the patients were women and 100 (44.2%) were men. Seventy-five (33.2%) had at least one chronic disease. The most prevalent comorbid diseases in our patients were found to be hypertension (15.9%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (14.6%) and diabetes mellitus (9.7%). Findings such as leukocytosis, basophilia and neutrophilia, elevated CRP, elevated D-DIMER and elevated LDH, which are relatively common in COVID-19 cases, were more extensive in cases accompanied by underlying diseases. Conclusion: Impaired laboratory findings of COVID-19 patients with concomitant chronic diseases are more severe than the group without additional disease. We recommend that there can be more studies in which all parameters that may affect the results are evaluated.