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Fikir Asrie,1 Esayas Tekle,2 Yemataw Gelaw,1 Mulat Dagnew,3 Aschalew Gelaw,3 Markos Negash,4 Eyuel Kassa,5 Segenet Bizuneh,6 Dessalew Wudineh7 1Department of Hematology and Immunohematology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia; 2Department of Medical and Laboratory Sciences, Institute of Health Sciences, Wollega University, Nekemte, Ethiopia; 3Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia; 4Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia; 5University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital Laboratory, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia; 6Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia; 7Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Institute of Health Sciences, Mizan Tepi University, Mizan Tepi, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Yemataw Gelaw, Email yabsirayemataw@gmail.comBackground: Thrombocytopenia and platelet indices in COVID-19 patients were important for prompt treatment and management of the disease. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of thrombocytopenia, platelet indices, and its association with disease severity among COVID-19 patients at the Tibebe Ghion Specialized Hospital, COVID-19 treatment center, Northwest Ethiopia.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 117 conveniently recruited COVID-19 patients from March to June 2021. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using a structured questionnaire and checklist, respectively. The platelet parameters were analyzed by the Mindray-BC 5800 automated hematological analyzer. ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to compare the difference between parametric and non-parametric continuous variables, respectively. Binary logistic regression was used to identify the factors associated with thrombocytopenia. A P-value < 0.05 was defined as statistically significant for all statistical tests.Results: Among COVID-19 patients, 45, 43 and 29 were mild, moderate and severe, respectively. 65.8% of the patients were males and 34.2% were alcohol drinkers with a mean age of 50.6 ± 15.4. Moreover, 44.4% of the patients had co-morbidity. Thrombocytopenia was presented in 23.9% of the patients. It was 4.57 (95% CI: 1.30– 16.07) and 6.10 (95% CI: 1.54– 24.08) times more likely in the moderate and severe cases compared to mild cases, respectively. Disease severity was also associated with PDW (P-value = 0.001).Conclusion: Even though thrombocytopenia was not presented in most moderate and severe COVID-19 patients, thrombocytopenia and PDW were associated with disease severity.Keywords: COVID-19, Ethiopia, risk stratification, severity, thrombocytopenia |
