Lymphopenia in Covid-19: A single center retrospective study of 589 cases

BACKGROUND: Lymphopenia is one of features that helps identify patients with severe Covid-19. This retrospectively study analyzed the association of lymphopenia with the severity of COVID-19 infection, determinate the predictive factors of lymphopenia and the significance of mortality in patient with lymphopenia. METHODS: This retrospective study included patients diagnosed with Covid-19 and admitted to intensive care unit of our university hospital center From Mars 1st 2020, to December 31st(,) 2020. RESULTS: In this study, 589 patients were included, a group had lymphopenia with 357 cases (60.06%) and the non-lymphopenia group with 232 cases (39.4%). The median age of our patients having lymphopenia was 65 years (56–76). Hypertension and diabetes were noted in the majority of patients with lymphopenia than in the non-lymphopenia group. Lymphopenia was strongly correlated to the inflammatory biomarkers of COVID-19 and were significant. A significant correlation was found between lymphopenia group and CT scan. Lymphopenia was observed as an indicator of prolonged duration of hospitalization but was not significant. CONCLUSION: Analytical data from this retrospective study shows the importance in the association between lymphopenia and the severity of COVID-19 infection, hence the need for dynamic monitoring of the number of lymphocytes on admission and during hospitalization of these patients.