Clinical and laboratory findings of COVID‑19

Abstract

The pandemic of coronavirus disease‑19 started in Wuhan City of China in December 2019 andquickly spread all over the world, infecting almost two million people. The clinical presentation ofthe disease is mild/moderate in 80% of cases; however, it leads to a critical clinical presentationby 20%, which is severe or very severe disease requires intensive care. The mortality is high,especially in cases with advanced age, comorbidities, and pneumonia‑related acute respiratorydistress syndrome and respiratory failure, while children are often with subclinical manifestations.The most common clinical findings are fever, cough, fatigue, and shortness of breath. The incubationperiod ranges from 2 to 14 days. The most common laboratory findings are lymphocytopenia andthrombocytopenia. Elevated D‑dimer, ferritin, troponin I, lactate dehydrogenase and interleukin‑6,and hypoxia (O2 saturation ≤90%) were identified as “poor prognostic factors” associated withsevere disease and mortality. The monitoring of such parameters was reported to be beneficial fordetermining patients with risk and potentially high mortality.