2 MATERIAL AND METHOD
In this analytical study, the records of 824 patients with positive
COVID-19 reverse-transcriptase polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) test
result who received inpatient treatment between March 16, 2020, and
December 1, 2020, at Ondokuz Mayıs University Medical Faculty Hospital
were retrospectively reviewed. Pregnant patients (n = 20) and patients
younger than 18 years (n = 54) were not included in the study.
Permission was obtained from the Ministry of Health for this study, and
approval was obtained from the local ethics committee (decision number
OMU KAEK 2021/730). The study was performed in accordance with the
Declaration of Helsinki.
A confirmed case of COVID-19 was defined as a positive result for
real-time RT-PCR assay for nasal and oropharyngeal swab specimens.
SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) RT-PCR Detection Kit (Bioeksen Bio-Speedy R&D
Co, Ltd, Turkey) was used to demonstrate the presence of SARS-CoV-2.
Patients were divided into four groups based on their disease status:
those without comorbidities (Group 1), those with only CSD (Group 2),
those with only cancer (Group 3) and those with both CSD and cancer
(Group 4). CSD was recorded under the title of the relevant disease
category and not separately. Patients’ demographic characteristics, CSD
status, presence of cancer (solid and haematological), clinical
symptoms, treatments used, biochemical parameters (counts of platelets,
leucocytes and lymphocytes, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), clotting
tests and levels of haemoglobin (Hb), lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH),
C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin, D-dimer and ferritin), need for
intensive care, intubation, complications and survival were evaluated
comparatively.