Increased levels of lactate dehydrogenase and hypertension are associated with severe illness of COVID-19

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is amid an ongoing pandemic. It has been shown that patients with cardiovascular comorbidities are at higher risk of severe illness of COVID-19. AIM To find out the relationship between cardiovascular comorbidities and severe illness of COVID-19. METHODS The clinical data of 140 COVID-19 patients treated from January 22, 2020 to March 3, 2020 at our hospital were retrospectively collected. The clinical characteristics were compared between patients with mild illness and those with severe illness. RESULTS There were 75 male patients and 65 female patients (53.6% vs 46.4%). The mean age was 45.4 +/- 14.6 years (range, 2-85 years). Most of the patients had mild illness (n = 114, 81.4%) and 26 patients had severe illness (18.6%). The most common symptom was fever (n = 110, 78.6%), followed by cough (n = 82, 58.6%) and expectoration (n = 51, 36.4%). Eight patients were asymptomatic but were positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA. Patients with severe illness were significantly more likely to be hypertensive than those with mild illness [(10/26, 38.4%) vs (22/114, 19.3%), P = 0.036]. The levels of lactate dehydrogenase were significantly higher in the severe illness group than in the mild illness group (299.35 +/- 68.82 vs 202.94 +/- 63.87, P < 0.001). No patient died in either the severe illness or the mild illness group. CONCLUSION Hypertension and elevated levels of lactate dehydrogenase may be associated with severe illness of COVID-19.