Predictors of the severity of COVID-19 patients with chronic airway diseases
To identify the predictors of the severity of COVID-19 patients with chronic airway diseases, we analyzed the association between the abnormal laboratory findings and the disease severity with univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. The disease severity was significantly associated with all of the above mentioned abnormal laboratory findings in univariate logistic regression analyses. In a multivariate regression model incorporated lymphopenia, eosinopenia, elevated LDH and increased IL-6, eosinophil counts < 0.02×10⁹/L (odds ratio per 1 unit increase, 10.115 [95% CI 2.158-47.414], p = 0.003) and LDH levels > 225 U/L (odds ratio per 1 unit increase, 22.300 [2.179-228.247], p = 0.009) were independent risk factors for disease severity (Table 3). Our data suggest that decreased eosinophil counts and increased LDH levels may help the clinician to identify the severe COVID-19 patients with chronic airway diseases.