a survey on the first 100 covid-19 patients admitted to a referral center in northern iran in early 2020

Background: lymphopenia is an important but nonspecific laboratory indicator of covid-19.objectives: to describe epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of the first cases of the covid-19referred to a center dedicated to covid-19 patients in iran.methods: this research is a retrospective cross-sectional study on 100 confirmed cases with covid-19,hospitalized from february 25 to march 10, 2020, in qaemshahr razi hospital in mazandaran province,iran. the main demographic data, clinical features, including outcomes, laboratory findings, andtherapeutic protocols, were collected in a structured form and analyzed.results: the mean±sd age of the patients was 56.7±15.6 years. fifty-nine percent (n=59) of the patientswere male. nineteen percent (n=19) were admitted to the icu. the median (iqr) time from disease onsetto hospital admission was 5 (3-7) days. the most common symptoms were fever (73%), dyspnea (67%),dry cough (61%), and myalgia (61%). the severity of the disease was moderate in most patients (n=54).the average hospital stay for patients was 7 days. the non-survivor cases in comparison to survived oneswere from a higher age group (65 vs 52 years; p=0.001), had a higher frequency of underlying diseases (68.4% vs 39.5%; p=0.039), had a lower peripheral capillary o2 saturation at the time of admission (79% vs 94%; p<0.001), and were more likely to have lymphopenia (63.2% vs 37%; p=0.034).conclusion: lymphopenia, increased neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and decreased peripheral capillaryo2 saturation are commonly seen in covid-19 patients, especially among severe cases, and can be used in developing clinical prediction rules.