Results:
Demographic data, clinical characteristics, and main laboratory findings
During the period between July 2020 and August 2020, a total of 53 mild non-hospitalized and 48 moderate hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infection were recruited.  Demographic, clinical characteristics, and laboratory investigations, including immunological and inflammatory biomarkers, were compared between the two groups.
Hospitalized patients were found to be older (58 years vs. 36 years, p < 0.001). On the other hand, there was no difference in gender distribution (54% of hospitalized vs. 43% of the non-hospitalized were male, p =0.32). Comorbid conditions were more frequent in the admitted group, such as diabetes (65 %vs. 21%, p <0.001) and those on oral hypoglycemic agents/insulin (40 % vs. 6%, p < 0.001).). While shortness of breath was more frequent in hospitalized patients (80 % vs. 17%, p <0.001), fatigue (56.6% vs. 20.83%, p <0.001) and diarrhea (34.0% vs. 14.58%, p=0.037) were reported more in the non-hospitalized group (Table1).
Hospitalized group had higher inflammatory markers: CRP (114 vs.4 mg/L, p <0.001), LDH (417 vs. 214 U/L,p <0.001), ferritin (760 vs. 196 ng/mL,p <0.001), fibrinogen (6 vs. 3 g/L,p <0.001), D-dimer (1.0 vs. 0.3 mcg/mL,p <0.001), disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC) score (2.0 vs. 0.0, p <0.001) and higher neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (4 vs. 1.1, p <0.001) as shown in Table 2.
Immunological features