comparison of biochemical and hematological parameters among covid-19 patients with and without vaccination in a tertiary care hospital: a retrospective study

Background: the availability of the covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic has changed the disease course in the entire world. the current study aimed to compare various hematological parameters among covid-19 patients with and without vaccination. methods: the present retrospective study included 26 vaccinated and 26 non-vaccinated covid-19 patients. various clinical and biochemical parameters of rt-pcr-positive patients were collected. the values are expressed in mean±sd or median values iqr. mann-whitney u test was used for comparison between the groups. results: among the vaccinated individuals, 17 cases (65.4%) were asymptomatic, one patient (3.8%) had moderate, eight cases (30.8%) had mild covid-19 infection and all 26 patients were completely recovered. among non-vaccinated covid-19 patients, 25 cases (96.2%) had severe, one case (3.8%) had moderate covid-19, and 16 patients (61.5%) recovered but ten cases succumbed to covid-19. there were statistically significant differences in spo2, total leucocyte count, and differential counts of neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils, monocytes, and basophils between vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients (p<0.001). the neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio was found to be at a higher level (p<0.01) among non-vaccinated patients [10.9(4.28-23.63)] compared to vaccinated [1.55(1.09-2.28)]. the blood urea, total and direct bilirubin, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (sgot), serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (sgpt), and inflammatory markers, like c-reactive protein (crp), d-dimer, ferritin, and lactate dehydrogenase (ldh) were highly elevated in non-vaccinated patients (p<0.001). moreover, lower values of total protein, serum albumin, and albumin and globulin (a/g) ratio were noted in the non-vaccinated compared to vaccinated individuals (p<0.001). conclusion: vaccinated patients had milder disease with fewer derangements of hematological parameters compared to non-vaccinated patients. it can be concluded that vaccine has played a vital role during the covid-19 pandemic in reducing mortality.