TABLE 1.
Baseline demographic, clinical and biochemical characteristics of the entire cohort and according to the presence of RBCs abnormalities at the peripheral blood smear.
| Entire cohort | Abnormal RBC morphologies | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No (n = 40) | <10% (n = 44) | >10% (n = 31) | p-value | ||
| Demographic and clinical characteristics | |||||
| Age (years) | 75 [62–83] | 71 [62–82] | 78 [59–83] | 79 [65–87] | 0.292 |
| Gender (Male) | 72 (62.6) | 23 (57.5) | 28 (63.6) | 21 (67.7) | 0.665 |
| Comorbidities (any) | 101 (87.8) | 36 (90.0) | 41 (93.2) | 24 (77.4) | 0.122 |
| Chronic kidney disease | 15 (13.0) | 3 (7.5) | 4 (9.1) | 8 (25.8) | 0.064 |
| Chronic liver disease | 4 (3.5) | 1 (2.5) | 1 (2.3) | 2 (6.5) | 0.676 |
| Active hematologic neoplasia | 6 (5.2) | 2 (5.0) | 1 (2.3) | 3 (9.7) | 0.382 |
| Chronic anemia | 3 (2.6) | 1 (2.5) | 0 | 2 (6.5) | 0.187 |
| Time from symptoms onset to hospital admission (days) | 6 [3–9] | 6 [3–8] | 7 [5–10] | 5 [2–9] | 0.367 |
| Peripheral O2 Saturation (%) | 93 [90–96] | 92 [90–95] | 94 [91–96] | 91 [88–94] | 0.046 |
| Heart rate (bpm) | 89 (±18.1) | 90 (±15.1) | 88 (±17.2) | 88 (±23.0) | 0.827 |
| Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 135 (±20.9) | 137 (±19.0) | 137 (±21.6) | 129 (±21.6) | 0.198 |
| Temperature (°C) | 37.4 (±1.0) | 37.4 (±0.9) | 37.3 (±1.2) | 37.6 (±1.0) | 0.544 |
| Biochemical characteristics | |||||
| Hemoglobin (g/L) | 128 [119–138] | 131 [110–141] | 129 [123–137] | 126 [113–138] | 0.707 |
| MCV (fL) | 89.2 [87.0–92.9] | 90.0 [87.3–94.2] | 89.2 [86.8–92.7] | 89.0 [86.7–93.6] | 0.659 |
| RDW (%) | 13.8 [12.9–14.9] | 13.6 [12.6–14.7] | 13.6 [12.9–14.6] | 14.6 [13.4–15.4] | 0.173 |
| White Blood Cells (109/L) | 7.68 [4.71–11.38] | 7.12 [5.00–11.78] | 8.15 [5.11–11.37] | 6.66 [4.36–12.14] | 0.848 |
| Neutrophils (109/L) | 6.13 [3.50–9.83] | 5.63 [3.42–9.74] | 6.79 [3.66–10.05] | 5.73 [3.47–9.58] | 0.814 |
| Lymphocytes (109/L) | 0.77 [0.51–1.06] | 0.81 [0.59–1.18] | 0.80 [0.48–1.13] | 0.59 [0.35–0.86] | 0.018 |
| Platelets (109/L) | 206 [157–275] | 212 [157–302] | 234 [168–282] | 179 [148–213] | 0.021 |
| C reactive protein (mg/L) | 75 [37–147] | 75 [34–144] | 67 [33–187] | 112 [48–178] | 0.245 |
| Ferritin (µg/L) | 664 [350–1,139] | 545 [358–1,250] | 639 [273–928] | 806 [397–1,247] | 0.374 |
| Iron (µg/dl) | 38 [23–60] | 38 [23–66] | 38 [22–63] | 37 [24–52] | 0.965 |
| Transferrin (g/L) | 1.52 [1.26–1.90] | 1.58 [1.34–1.95] | 1.54 [1.27–1.88] | 1.40 [1.18–1.91] | 0.349 |
| Transferrin saturation (%) | 17 [11–29] | 16 [10–28] | 18 [11–30] | 19 [12–30] | 0.680 |
| Fibrinogen (g/L) | 5.59 [4.61–7.22] | 5.46 [4.77–7.11] | 5.55 [4.24–7.02] | 6.09 [4.61–7.52] | 0.749 |
| Creatinine (mg/dl) | 0.85 [0.71–1.13] | 0.82 [0.70–1.09] | 0.88 [0.77–1.20] | 0.89 [0.70–1.39] | 0.466 |
| eGFR, (mL/min/1.73 m2) | 81 [54–92] | 82 [59–94] | 80 [55–91] | 76 [44–94] | 0.499 |
| ALT (U/L) | 29 [19–46] | 30 [19–47] | 33 [21–43] | 26 [15–46] | 0.569 |
| Total bilirubin (mg/dl) | 0.53 [0.36–0.72] | 0.40 [0.32–0.64] | 0.56 [0.38–0.77] | 0.56 [0.48–0.80] | 0.110 |
| Albumin (g/L) | 35.3 (±4.6) | 36.6 (±3.5) | 35.5 (±4.5) | 33.5 (±5.4) | 0.036 |
| Arterial blood gases at ED presentation | |||||
| PaO2/FiO2 (ratio) | 262 [229–314] | 276 [238–324] | 262 [238–314] | 233 [196–318] | 0.282 |
| Lactate (mmol/L) | 1.3 [0.9–1.9] | 1.2 [1.1–2.2] | 1.2 [1.0–1.7] | 1.4 [0.8–2.3] | 0.771 |
Data are presented as n (%), mean (±SD) or median [interquartile range]. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. p values < 0.05 are indicated in bold.
MCV, mean corpuscular volume; RDW, red blood cell distribution width; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate (CKD, formula); ALT, alanin aminotransferase; ED, Emergency department; PaO2, arterial partial oxygen tension; FiO2, inspiratory oxygen fraction.