Abstract
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS TOPIC? Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes symptoms ranging from mild to severe. Indicators for identifying severe COVID-19 infection have not been well identified, especially for young patients. WHAT IS ADDED BY THIS REPORT? Both neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) [area under curve (AUC): 0.80; the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI): 1.30 (1.13-1.50)] and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) [AUC: 0.87; OR (95% CI): 1.05 (1.01-1.09)] were determined to be indicators for recognition of patients with severe COVID-19 in young patients less than age 40. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE? NLR and PLR are useful indicators for identifying patients with severe COVID-19, especially in young patients less than age 40.