By: Ahmed Abdelhalim Yameny

Society of Pathological Biochemistry and Hematology, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Thrombocytopenia is a common manifestation and also an indicator of poor prognosis of SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 according to previous researches, Some studies have found a relationship between thrombocytopenia and the severity of the COVID-19 and related mortality. Patients and methods: This study included 504 out hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection in Alexandria, Egypt, these study subjects were randomly selected irrespective of the age group and both genders were included, EDTA blood sample was collected for performing complete blood count and platelet count (Diagon D-cell 60 hematology analyzer Europe-Diagon Ltd. Hungary). Results: The present study included patients aged from14 years to 75 years mean age was 44.5 ±30.5 who were confirmed to have Covid-19 based on real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, the female gender was more frequent (n=280, 55.6%) than Male gender (n=224, 44.4%). This study reveals a normal platelet count in 456 patients (90.5%), and a mild low platelet count of 140-150× 10⁹/L in 48 patients(9.5%), with a p-value, is 0.415 which is more than 0.05 not significant. And no patients in this studied group recorded platelet count less than 140× 10⁹/L. Conclusion: Platelet was not a significant biomarker for COVID-19 diagnosis or prognosis in out-hospitalized patients (Outpatients and patients under home observation).

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