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. 2020 Mar;25(11):2000258.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.11.2000258. Epub 2020 Mar 16.

Influenza-associated pneumonia as reference to assess seriousness of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Kristin Tolksdorf  1 , Silke Buda  1 , Ekkehard Schuler  2 , Lothar H Wieler  1 , Walter Haas  1
Affiliations

Influenza-associated pneumonia as reference to assess seriousness of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Kristin Tolksdorf et al. Euro Surveill. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Information on severity of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (transmissibility, disease seriousness, impact) is crucial for preparation of healthcare sectors. We present a simple approach to assess disease seriousness, creating a reference cohort of pneumonia patients from sentinel hospitals. First comparisons exposed a higher rate of COVID-19 patients requiring ventilation. There were more case fatalities among COVID-19 patients without comorbidities than in the reference cohort. Hospitals should prepare for high utilisation of ventilation and intensive care resources.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; hospital; pneumonia; seriousness of disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Reported proportions of patients in intensive care and proportions of patients who were still hospitalised, five COVID-19 case series, China, January–February 2020 (n = 688)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Reported proportions of patients on ventilation and proportions of patients who were still hospitalised, five COVID-19 case series, China, January–February 2020 (n = 734)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Reported proportions of deceased and corresponding proportions of patients that were still hospitalised, seven COVID-19 case series, China, January–February 2020 (n = 1,087)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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