Differences in Prevalence of Haematological Abnormalities on Presentation to Hospital in COVID 19 Infected adult and Paediatric Patients: A Retrospective Multicenter Descriptive Study
Author(s): Saubia Fathima*, Salma Awad Mohamed Rahma, Farah Ghayoor Chughtai, Zoubia Mohamed, Sally Awad Mohamed Rahma, Harshitha Janardhan, Lana G Adra, Maymona Motasim Mohammad, Rommana Mehdi, Anam Ahsan and Diary Mohammad
Abstract
Background: It is well known that COVID 19 infection affects multiple systems in the body. Reports have documented many changes in the hematopoietic system in the pathophysiology of the disease. Aim: The aim of the study was to find out the prevalence and any significant difference in routine haematological parameters on presentation in Paediatric and adult patients with COVID 19 infection. Methodology: We conducted a multicenter retrospective descriptive observational study and investigated the prevalence of haematological abnormalities at presentation of 1000 PCR swab confirmed COVID 19 infected randomly selected adult and Paediatric patients admitted to 3 tertiary hospital in Dubai. Data was gathered through their electronic medical records and all analysis was done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS). Results: The prevalence of at least one abnormal haematological parameter was 95.1% (794/835) on first presentation to the hospital. After adjusting of age and gender the prevalence of any white cell abnormality was 34.7% (290/835) (5.7% leukopenia, 9.6% leucocytosis, 25.4% lymphopenia, 5.5% neutropenia, 16.4% had neutrophilia, 7.3% monocytosis, and 1.2% eosinopenia). A prevalence of 15.3% (128/835) anaemia, 9.5% (79/835) thrombocytopenia and 4.3% (36/ 835) thrombocytosis was also observed. The prevalence of other abnormal blood parameters: C reactive protein 69.5%(573/835), D dimer 57.5% (280/835), high LDH 52%(383/835), high ferritin 72.1%(452/835), high INR 5.1%(38/835) , prolonged PT 32.2% (240/835) , and prolonged APTT 35.6%(264/835). A significant difference in prevalence of these abnormalities was evident between adult and Paediatric population, these abnormalities were much more prevalent in adults but interestingly paediatric population tended to have higher incidence of neutropenia, eosinophilia and monocytosis (p<0.001). Conclusion: The effects of COVID 19 infection are different in adult and paediatric patients. Many mechanisms have been hypothesized for this observation. This study revealed another less studied and interesting variation in the manifestation among the two populations.