Evaluation and Comparison of the Changes of Blood Biochemical and Hematological Factors in Adults with and Without History of COVID-19

There is evidence that COVID-19 may have some long-term effects on the patients' blood biochemical and hematological factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the changes in biochemical and hematological factors in adults with and without past history of COVID-19.

The present study is a cross-sectional study including 72 cases with a past history of COVID-19 (PCR+ test) and 52 controls without a history of COVID-19. All participants were from two prospective cohort studies, namely Yazd Health Study (YaHS) and Shahedieh Cohort Study. Biochemical parameters such as blood glucose, lipid profiles, liver, kidney and hematological factors of cases and controls were extracted from the databases and analyzed.

The mean red blood cell count in patients with COVID-19 was significantly higher than in non-COVID-19 patients (p<0.05), and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) was significantly lower in patients with COVID-19 (p>0.001). However, no significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of lipid and kidney profiles and liver enzymes.

No significant difference was found between the two groups of patients exposed to COVID-19 and patients not exposed to COVID-19 in terms of liver enzymes, lipid and kidney profiles, which probably indicate that COVID-19 has no long-term effect on these variables. However, a significant difference was observed between the two groups (p<0.05) regarding the number of red blood cells and MCV.