Correlations between clinical, laboratory and instrumental characteristics of patients with COVID-19 infection

Abstract

Background. COVID-19 is a leading disease in terms of prevalence (more than 100 million cases) and mortality (more than 10.0%). Most often, COVID-19 is accompanied by hemostatic disorders (manifestations of COVID-19-associated coagulopathy) and blood coagulation. Aim. To determine the levels of correlation between clinical and laboratory characteristics of hemostatic and coagulation disorders (according to the characteristics of ThromboElastoGraphy, TEG) in patients with COVID-19 infection. Materials and Methods. The study was performed at the Department of Infectious and Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Parasitology, Phthisiology and Pulmonology of Kharkiv National Medical University in accordance with the existing recommendations of bioethical norms and rules. All patients signed an informed consent. 179 patients with COVID-19 were examined. The levels of correlation between laboratory and instrumental characteristics were determined using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The probability of differences was determined using the Mann-Whitney U-test. Results & Conclusions. According to the results of the study, significant direct and inverse correlations were found. The identified correlations determined the possible interaction between TEG parameters and the characteristics of the systemic inflammatory response. The obtained results play a significant role for patients with COVID-19, because they can predict shifts in inflammatory systemic response parameters, which characterize the severity of the disease, based on the characteristics of TEG. The interrelationships of hemostatic and coagulation system disorders have been reliably determined by the presence of significant correlations between the characteristics of the inflammatory systemic response of patients with COVID-19 and TEG values. The obtained significant correlations were mostly weak, but there were also interdependencies of medium strength. In particular, Interleukin-6 and some other indicators on days 5–6 after hospitalization. Keywords: thromboelastography, TEG, coagulation system disorders.