Evaluation of eosinopenia as a diagnostic and prognostic indicator in COVID-19 infection.

INTRODUCTION

Eosinopenia has been observed during infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19. This study evaluated the role of eosinopenia as a diagnostic and prognostic indicator in COVID-19 infection.

METHODS

Information on 429 patients with confirmed COVID-19, admitted to Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, India between 04 June 2020 to 15 August 2020, was retrospectively collected through electronic records and analysed.

RESULTS

79.25% of the patients included in the study had eosinopenia on admission. The median eosinophil count in COVID-19-positive patients was 0.015 × 10 /L, and in negative patients, it was 0.249 × 10 /L. Eighteen per cent of the positive patients presented with 0 eosinophil count. Eosinopenia for early diagnosis of COVID-19 had a sensitivity of 80.68% and specificity of 100% with an accuracy of 85.24. Role of eosinopenia in prognostication of COVID-19 was found to be insignificant. There was no statistically significant difference between the median eosinophil counts in survivors and nonsurvivors. Eosinophil trends during the course of disease were found to be similar between survivors and nonsurvivors.

CONCLUSIONS

Eosinopenia on admission is a reliable and convenient early diagnostic marker for COVID-19 infection, helping in early identification, triaging and isolation of the patients till nucleic acid test results are available. Role of eosinopenia as a prognostic indicator is insignificant.