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. 2021 Jan 18;21:79. doi: 10.1186/s12879-021-05792-7

Table 1.

Comparison of baseline characteristics, immunological and cytokine parameters between patients with COVID-19

Variables Moderate
(n = 10)
Severe
(n = 38)
Critical
(n = 19)
P value
Age, y 39.5 (36.0–62.5) 65.0 (57.0–72.3)* 66 (56.0–70.0)* 0.001
Male 6 19 14 0.230
Days from illness onset to admission, d 22.5 (14.0–32.0) 14.0 (10.0–23.0) 14.0 (10.0–20.0) 0.153
Length of stay, d 16.5 (10.0–20.3) 37.0 (19.8–46.3) * 44.0 (27.0–50.0) * 0.003
Comorbidities
 Hypertension 4 (40.0) 16 (42.1) 12 (63.2) 0.282
 Diabetes mellitus 1 (10.0) 12 (31.5) 3 (15.8) 0.225
 Malignancy 1 (10.0) 2 (5.3) 0 (0.0) 0.436
 Chronic kidney disease 0 (0.0) 2 (5.3) 1 (5.3) 0.759
 Chronic lung disease 0 (0.0) 5 (13.2) 5 (26.3) 0.150
Treatment
 Antibiotics 9 (90.0) 28 (73.7) 18 (94.7) 0.115
 Antiviral treatment 7 (70.0) 34 (89.5) 18 (94.7) 0.137
 Corticosteroid 1 (10.0) 20 (52.6) 16 (84.2) 0.001
Death 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 4 (21.1) 0.01
Cell counts, per μL
 Total lymphocytes 2005 (1635–2458) 1280 (950–1550) * 800 (510–1050) # * < 0.001
 T lymphocytes 1413 (1236–2010) 821 (609–1142) * 639 (443–725) # * 0.002
 CD4+ T-cell 940 (664–1292) 522 (358–735) * 377 (302–467) # * 0.001
 CD8+ T-cell 443 (317–647) 243 (183–394) * 213 (78–264) * 0.002
 B cell 221 (135–377) 137 (84–210) * 97 (45–128) * 0.001
 NK-cell 137 (96–208) 118 (77–189) 39 (19–65) # * 0.001
Inflammatory cytokine
 C-reactive protein, mg/L 3.9 (0.1–15.5) 10.5 (4.2–25.7) 40.0 (15.9–58.7)# * 0.004
 IL-2 (pg/ml) 3.6 (3.0–4.2) 2.9 (2.1–4.0) 3.0 (2.1–3.8) 0.339
 IL-4 (pg/ml) 2.9 (1.9–3.9) 3.0 (1.3–3.8) 2.5 (1.4–3.9) 0.844
 IL-6 (pg/ml) 5.8 (3.4–8.0) 6.8 (4.3–16.2) 14.5 (5.7–52.3) * 0.043
 IL-10 (pg/ml) 4.0 (3.1–5.1) 4.5 (3.0–5.9) 5.4 (3.4–7.5) * 0.049
 TNF-α (pg/ml) 2.7 (1.7–3.4) 2.1 (1.6–3.2) 2.6 (1.7–3.2) 0.325
 IFN-γ (pg/ml) 2.6 (2.3–3.7) 3.1 (1.4–4.1) 2.8 (1.5–3.8) 0.527

Values are median (IQR) or n (%). * and # refer to P < 0.05. *Comparison between the moderate group and the severe or critical group. # Comparison between the severe group and the critical group

IL Interleukin; TNF-α Tumor necrosis factor α; IFN-γ Interferon γ