risk factors for the mortality in hospitalized patients with covid-19: a brief report

The cumulative rate of death of acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2) has necessitated better recognizing the risk factors of the disease and the covid-19- induced mortality. this cross-sectional study aimed to determine the potential risk factors that predict covid-19-related mortality concentrating on the initial recorded laboratory tests. we extracted admission’s medical records of a total of 136 deaths related to covid-19 and 272 discharged adult inpatients (≥18 years old) related to four referral centers from february 24^th to april 12^th, 2020, in isfahan, iran, to figure out the relationship between the laboratory findings and mortality beyond demographic and clinical findings. we applied the independent sample t test and a chichi square test with spss software to compare the differences between the survivor and non-survivor patients. a p value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. our results showed that greater length of hospitalization (p≤0.001), pre-existing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (p≤0.001), high pulse rate, hypoxia (p≤0.001), and high computed tomography scan score (p<0.001), in addition to high values of some laboratory parameters, increase the risk of mortality. moreover, high neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (or, 1.890; 95% ci, 1.074-3.325, p=0.027), increased creatinine levels (or, 15.488; 95% ci, 0.801-299.479, p=0.07), and elevated potassium levels (or, 13.400; 95% ci, 1.084 -165.618, p=0.043) independently predicted in-hospital death related to covid-19 infection. these results emphasized the potential role of impaired laboratory parameters for the prognosis of fatal outcomes in adult inpatients.