Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Sichuan University-Oxford University Huaxi Gastrointestinal Cancer Centre, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Digestion Center, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Int J Infect Dis. 2020 Jul;96:131-135. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.04.086. Epub 2020 May 4.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new respiratory and systemic disease which needs quick identification of potential critical patients. This meta-analysis aimed to explore the relationship between lymphocyte count and the severity of COVID-19.
A comprehensive systematic literature search was carried out to find studies published from December 2019 to 22 March 2020 from five databases. The language of literatures included English and Chinese. Mean difference (MD) of lymphocyte count in COVID-19 patients with or without severe disease and odds ratio (OR) of lymphopenia for severe form of COVID-19 was evaluated with this meta-analysis.
Overall 13 case-series with a total of 2282 cases were included in the study. The pooled analysis showed that lymphocyte count was significantly lower in severe COVID-19 patients (MD -0.31×10/L; 95%CI: -0.42 to -0.19×10/L). The presence of lymphopenia was associated with nearly threefold increased risk of severe COVID-19 (Random effects model, OR=2.99, 95% CI: 1.31-6.82).
Lymphopenia is a prominent part of severe COVID-19 and a lymphocyte count of less than 1.5×10/L may be useful in predicting the severity clinical outcomes.
新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）是一种新的呼吸道和全身性疾病，需要快速识别潜在的重症患者。本荟萃分析旨在探讨淋巴细胞计数与 COVID-19 严重程度之间的关系。
从 2019 年 12 月至 2020 年 3 月 22 日，我们从五个数据库中进行了全面的系统文献检索，以查找发表的研究。文献的语言包括英语和中文。本荟萃分析评估了 COVID-19 患者中伴有或不伴有严重疾病的淋巴细胞计数的均数差（MD）和淋巴细胞减少症对 COVID-19 严重形式的比值比（OR）。
共有 13 项病例系列研究，共纳入 2282 例患者。汇总分析显示，严重 COVID-19 患者的淋巴细胞计数明显较低（MD=-0.31×10/L；95%CI：-0.42 至-0.19×10/L）。存在淋巴细胞减少症与 COVID-19 严重形式的近三倍风险增加相关（随机效应模型，OR=2.99，95%CI：1.31-6.82）。
淋巴细胞减少是严重 COVID-19 的一个突出特征，淋巴细胞计数低于 1.5×10/L 可能有助于预测严重的临床结局。
