Predicting SARS-CoV-2 Omicron outcomes: Investigating the relationship of TLC, ferritin, D-dimer, LDH, C-Reactive protein and HbA1c

This study aimed to explore the relationship between total leukocyte count (TLC), ferritin, D-dimer, C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) with the outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infections. The retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 850 COVID patients, admitted in hospitals in Islamabad and Lahore from January 2021 to December 2022. Baseline data, medical history and laboratory findings including Complete Blood Count (CBC), TLC, D-dimer, serum ferritin, CRP, LDH and HbA1c were collected. The results revealed significant positive correlations between disease outcomes and TLC, CRP, LDH and ferritin (all p<0.01), with HbA1c strongly correlating with mortality (p<0.001). Correlation analysis revealed significant association among various biomarkers. TLC demonstrated significant positive relationship with serum ferritin (p=0.006), CRP (p=0.000) and HbA1c (p=0.002). Lymphocyte count showed significant positive correlation with TLC (p<0.001). Ferritin showed positive correlation with LDH (p<0.001), D-dimer (p=0.008) and CRP (p<0.001). Logistic regression analysis revealed that CRP, LDH and HbA1c were significant predictors of mortality, with CRP and LDH associated with disease severity also. Receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis shows LDH to be the strongest predicter of outcome with area under curve (AUC) 0.76. The biomarkers have significant role in predicting disease outcome in current study.