The association of the clinical course and the blood types and neutrophil lymphocyte ratios of COVID-19 patients with mild and moderate symptoms

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the blood groups and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratios of patients with mild and moderate symptoms hospitalized in Ankara City Hospital Clinical Observatory with the diagnosis of COVID-19 and the clinical course of the patients. Method: This study is a descriptive epidemiological study. The population of the study consists of patients aged 18-65 years, who were followed up in Ankara City Hospital Clinical Observatory between 01.11.2020 and 28.02.2021, with positive COVID-19 PCR or typical findings for COVID-19 infection on thorax CT. All patients who met the relevant criteria were included in the study. A data collection form including age, gender, marital status, chronic diseases, documented blood group, whole blood parameters, saturation values, treatments received during hospitalization, PCR and CT findings was filled in for the patients included in the study. Results: Of the 199 patients included in the study, 62.3% were men and 70.4% were married. During the hospitalization, 26.6% of the patients had low SPO2, 14.6% had a fever above 38 °C, and 5.5% were transferred to another service. No patient was transferred to the intensive care unit. The Neutrophil/Lymphocyte ratio (NLR) value of patients who had low SPO2 and needed cortisone during the hospitalization was higher than the others. Among the parameters compared with NLR during hospitalization, a negative weak-moderate correlation was observed with partial oxygen pressure (SPO2) and a positive weak-moderate correlation with D-dimer were determined. No correlation was found between blood groups and the clinical indicators examined. Conclusion: It has been observed that the predictive power of NLR value is not sufficient to predict the prognosis of patients with mild and moderate clinical course, on the other hand, it is associated with parameters such as SPO2 and D-dimer during hospitalization. Considering that patients with the moderate clinical course are the stage before severe clinical disease, it is important for the treatment of COVID-19 to clarify the factors that cause the aggravation of the clinic of patients with mild symptoms and to make necessary x interventions in a timely manner. Therefore, there is a need for further studies in this area with larger patient series and investigation of other markers together with NLR. Keywords: COVID-19, SARS CoV-2, blood type, NLR, prognosis