An increased pretreatment C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio predicts severe novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia
Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to identify early warning signs for severe novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia (COVID-19). Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 90 patients with COVID-19 from Guanggu District of Hubei Women and Children Medical and Healthcare Center comprising 60 mild cases and 30 severe cases. The demographic data, underlying diseases, clinical manifestations and laboratory blood test results were compared between the two groups. The cutoff values was determined by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the independent risk factor that predicted the severe COVID-19. Results The patients with mild and severe COVID-19 showed significant differences in terms of cancer incidence, age, pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and pretreatment C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio (CAR) (P < 0.05). The severity of COVID-19 was correlated positively with the comorbidity of cancer, age, NLR, and CAR (P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, NLR and CAR were independent risk factors for severe COVID-19 (OR = 1.086, P = 0.008; OR = 1.512, P = 0.007; OR = 17.652, P = 0.001, respectively). Conclusion An increased CAR can serve as an early warning sign of severe COVID-19 in conjunction with the NLR and age.