Zhao YS, Yu YX. Lymphocyte count predicts the severity of COVID-19: Evidence from a meta-analysis. World J Clin Infect Dis 2021; 11(3): 49-59 [DOI: 10.5495/wjcid.v11.i3.49]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Yi-Si Zhao, MM, Doctor, Department of Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, No. 1 Youyi road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing 400016, China. 476663973@qq.com
Research Domain of This Article
Infectious Diseases
Article-Type of This Article
Meta-Analysis
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Infect Dis. Nov 5, 2021; 11(3): 49-59 Published online Nov 5, 2021. doi: 10.5495/wjcid.v11.i3.49
Lymphocyte count predicts the severity of COVID-19: Evidence from a meta-analysis
Yi-Si Zhao, Ying-Xi Yu
Yi-Si Zhao, Ying-Xi Yu, Department of Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China
Author contributions: Zhao YS wrote and revised this manuscript; Zhao YS and Yu YX participated in discussion the research; Zhao YS searched and collected bibliography.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We not received any fees for serving as a speaker. We not received any research funding from.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yi-Si Zhao, MM, Doctor, Department of Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, No. 1 Youyi road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing 400016, China. 476663973@qq.com
Received: February 27, 2021 Peer-review started: February 27, 2021 First decision: March 31, 2021 Revised: April 3, 2021 Accepted: September 10, 2021 Article in press: September 10, 2021 Published online: November 5, 2021 Processing time: 247 Days and 20.6 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
In December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported first in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 is currently a global pandemic.
Research motivation
COVID-19 with high morbidity is a life-threatening disease globally. It is important to develop a rapid, simple clinical method to identify severe COVID-19 cases.
Research objectives
The aim of this study was to assess the suitability of lymphocyte count as a biomarker of COVID-19 severity.
Research methods
We searched five literature databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Embase, and Scopus) to identify eligible articles. A meta-analysis was performed to calculate the standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of lymphocyte counts in coronaviral pneumonia cases.
Research results
Our research integrated eight studies, including 1057 patients. Lymphocyte counts were associated with severe coronavirus (CoV) infection (SMD = 1.35, 95%CI: 1.97 to 0.37, P < 0.001, I2 = 92.6%). In the subgroup analysis stratified by prognosis, lymphocytes were associated with coronavirus infection mortality (n = 2, SMD = 0.42, 95%CI: 0.66 to 0.19, P < 0.001, I2 = 0.0%), severity (n = 2, SMD = 0.93, 95%CI: 1.20 to 0.67, P < 0.001, I2 = 0.0%), and diagnostic rate (n = 4, SMD = 2.32, 95%CI: 3.60 to 1.04, P < 0.001, I2 = 91.2%).
Research conclusions
Lymphocyte count may represent a simple, rapid and commonly available laboratory index with which to diagnosis infection and predict the severity of CoV infections, including COVID-19.
Research perspectives
As a CoV hypotype, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is similar to the CoVs causing severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome. Hence, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic utility of lymphocyte count in patients with viral pneumonia caused by CoV infections. Our aim was to explore the possibility that lymphocyte counts predict COVID-19 severity and provide associated evidence.
