Abstract

Objective: Immunosuppressive drugs are included in the treatment protocols of severe COVID-19 cases that may present with cytokine storm. In this study, we aimed to examine the characteristics of COVID-19 patients who received immunosuppressive therapy

Methods: Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and followed in the quarantine wards of our hospital between 01.03.2020-24.05.2020 were included in the study. Patient information was obtained retrospectively from patient files and discharge reports, and 263 COVID-19 patients -aged 18 and over- were included in the study.

Results: The median age of the patients who received immunosuppressive therapy was 60.74 ± 1.96, and 39.6% of them were women. The average symptom duration of the patients examined in the study at the time of admission to the hospital was 4.59 ± 0.29 days. There was a significant difference in age, lymphocyte count, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, C-reactive protein, ferritin, D-Dimer, blood oxygen saturation, fever after antiviral therapy, qSOFA score, and total hospital stay between the two groups that received and did not receive immunosuppressive therapy (p<0.05). The need for immunosuppressive therapy increased 15.9 times over the age of 40, 15.6 times in the presence of diffuse involvement on thoracic CT, 6.6 times in the presence of chronic disease, 2.7 times in the presence of thrombocytopenia, and 1.7 times in the presence of lymphopenia (p <0.05).

Conclusions: We observed that patients whose immunosuppressive therapy was added to their treatment protocols were admitted to the hospital later than others, had more prevalent involvement in thorax CT, high acute phase reactants, low SPO2, and more than one underlying disease.