Parameters to Predict the Outcome of Severe and Critical COVID-19 Patients when Admitted to the Hospital

Manifestations of COVID-19 are diverse and range from asymptomatic to severe, critical illness and death. Cases requiring hospital care (in severe and critical illnesses) are associated with comorbidities and hyperactivation of the immune system. Therefore, in this exploratory observational study, we analyzed which parameters are associated with mortality. We evaluated: demographic characteristics (age, sex and comorbidities), laboratory data (albumin, leukocytes, lymphocytes, platelets, ferritin), days of hospital stay, interleukins (IL-2, IL-6, IL-7, IL-10, IL-17) and sP-selectin in 40 Mexican patients admitted to medical emergencies with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, a complete clinical record, and who signed the informed consent. Twenty severe (they required intermediate care with non-invasive ventilation) and twenty critically ill patients (they required mechanical ventilation) were classified, and these were subsequently compared with healthy and recovered subjects. A significant difference was found between the hospitalized groups in the parameters of age, ferritin, days of hospital stay and death with p values = 0.0145, p = 0.0441, p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001, respectively. In the determination of cytokines and P-selectin, a significant difference was found between the following groups: recovered patients and healthy volunteers compared with hospitalized patients in severe and critical condition. Importantly, IL-7 remained elevated one year later in recovered patients. Taken together, these values determined at the time of hospital admission could be useful to monitor patients closely and evaluate in-hospital progress, hospital discharge, and out-of-hospital progress.