What We Know of the Prognostic Value of Lymphopenia in SARS-CoV-2 Infection?

Although by comparing the number of deaths to the total number of cases one may conclude that most of the infected cases are recovering, taking a look at the increasing statistics of deaths shows that SARS-CoV-2 continues to take its toll. Since lymphocytes are the main immune cells battling with rapidly evolving viruses, it comes as no surprise to assume that a decreased number of these propitious soldiers may contribute to poor prognosis of the wide range of viral infections, including COVID-19. 

To provide a better prospect representing the prognostic value of lymphopenia in COVID-19, we searched the national library of medicine Medline/PubMed and performed a meta-analysis of pertinent literature representing information on the lymphocyte count in COVID-19 patients. 

The results of our meta-analysis revealed that the number of lymphocytes retains a specific clinical and biological significance in this infection and lymphopenia is seemingly an important hematological abnormality that contributes to mirror the evolution toward an unfavorable outcome. 

The rapidly evolving nature of COVID-19 together with relentless disclosure of novel findings denotes a major limitation to the current study, and further investigations in the field of prognostic biomarkers will definitively pave the way to better manage patients with severe COVID-19.