Some patients with COVID-19 have multiple organ dysfunction

Objectives:
Recently, there have been several studies on the clinical characteristics of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, these studies have mainly been concentrated in Wuhan, China; the sample sizes of each article were different and the reported clinical characteristics, especially blood biochemical indices, were quite different. Therefore, this review article has been conducted.

What are the blood biochemistry characteristics of COVID-19 patients?

Study design:
This review article included 10 studies with a total of 1,745 COVID-19 patients.

Results and conclusions:   
The investigators found meta-analysis showed that 16% and 20% of patients with COVID-19 had alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels higher than the normal range, respectively.

The investigators found 34% of patients showed albumin (ALB) levels lower than the normal range and 6% of patients showed abnormal total bilirubin (TBil) levels.

The investigators found the levels of creatinine (CRE) were increased in 8% of patients.

The investigators found the creatine kinase (CK) level of 13% of patients exceeded the normal range and 52% of patients had elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels.

The investigators found, in addition, 6 studies met the inclusion criteria for the systemic review evaluating the relevance between LDH levels and the severity of COVID-19 and all 6 studies showed a positive association between these two factors.

The investigators concluded some patients with COVID-19 have different degrees of blood biochemical abnormalities, which might indicate multiple organ dysfunction. Some biochemical indexes, such as abnormal ALB and LDH, could reflect the severity of the disease to a certain extent. These blood biochemical indicators should be considered in the clinical management of the disease.

Original title:
Blood Biochemical Characteristics of Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis by Deng X, Liu B, [...], Xu K.

Link:
https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/cclm/58/8/article-p1172.xml

Additional information of El Mondo:
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