Impact of point-of-care testing for white blood cell count on triage of patients with infection in the remote Northern Territory of Australia

Pathology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 512-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke Spaeth ◽  
Mark Shephard ◽  
Rana Kokcinar ◽  
Lauren Duckworth ◽  
Rodney Omond
Keyword(s):  
Blood Cell ◽  
Cell Count ◽  
White Blood Cell Count ◽  
White Blood Cell ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Point Of Care Testing ◽  
Blood Cell Count

scholarly journals White Blood Cells and Severe COVID-19: A Mendelian Randomization Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Yitang Sun ◽  
Jingqi Zhou ◽  
Kaixiong Ye
Keyword(s):  
Blood Cell ◽  
Cell Count ◽  
White Blood Cell Count ◽  
White Blood Cell ◽  
Blood Cells ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
White Blood Cells ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Blood Cell Count

Increasing evidence shows that white blood cells are associated with the risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the direction and causality of this association are not clear. To evaluate the causal associations between various white blood cell traits and the COVID-19 susceptibility and severity, we conducted two-sample bidirectional Mendelian Randomization (MR) analyses with summary statistics from the largest and most recent genome-wide association studies. Our MR results indicated causal protective effects of higher basophil count, basophil percentage of white blood cells, and myeloid white blood cell count on severe COVID-19, with odds ratios (OR) per standard deviation increment of 0.75 (95% CI: 0.60–0.95), 0.70 (95% CI: 0.54–0.92), and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.73–0.98), respectively. Neither COVID-19 severity nor susceptibility was associated with white blood cell traits in our reverse MR results. Genetically predicted high basophil count, basophil percentage of white blood cells, and myeloid white blood cell count are associated with a lower risk of developing severe COVID-19. Individuals with a lower genetic capacity for basophils are likely at risk, while enhancing the production of basophils may be an effective therapeutic strategy.

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