Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jul;288(1):128-138.
doi: 10.1111/joim.13063. Epub 2020 Apr 20.

Early antiviral treatment contributes to alleviate the severity and improve the prognosis of patients with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

J Wu  1   2 , W Li  3 , X Shi  1 , Z Chen  2 , B Jiang  4 , J Liu  5 , D Wang  6 , C Liu  7 , Y Meng  8 , L Cui  2 , J Yu  1 , H Cao  1   9 , L Li  1
Affiliations
Free article

Early antiviral treatment contributes to alleviate the severity and improve the prognosis of patients with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

J Wu et al. J Intern Med. 2020 Jul.
Free article

Abstract

Background: At present, the severity of patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been a focal point.

Methods: To assess the factors associated with severity and prognosis of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, we retrospectively investigated the clinical, imaging and laboratory characteristics of confirmed 280 cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from 20 January to 20 February 2020.

Results: The median age of patients in the mild group was 37.55 years, whilst that in the severe group was 63.04 years. The proportion of patients aged over 65 years in the severe group was significantly higher than that of the mild group (59.04% vs. 10.15%, P < 0.05). 85.54% of severe patients had diabetes or cardiovascular diseases, which was significantly higher than that of the mild group (51.81% vs. 7.11%, P = 0.025; 33.73% vs. 3.05%, P = 0.042). Patients in the mild group experienced earlier initiation of antiviral treatment (1.19 ± 0.45 vs. 2.65 ± 1.06 days in the severe group, P < 0.001). Our study showed that comorbidity, time from illness onset to antiviral treatment and age >=65 were three major risk factors for COVID-19 progression, whilst comorbidity and time from illness onset to antiviral treatment were two major risk factors for COVID-19 recovery.

Conclusions: The elderly and patients with underlying diseases are more likely to experience a severe progression of COVID-19. It is recommended that timely antiviral treatment should be initiated to slow the disease progression and improve the prognosis.

Keywords: antiviral treatment; coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19); disease progression; prognosis; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Heymann DL, Shindo N. WHO scientific and technical advisory group for infectious hazards. COVID- 19: what is next for public health? Lancet 2020; 395: 542-5.
    1. Wu Z, McGoogan JM. Characteristics of and Important Lessons From the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in China. JAMA 2020. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.2648.
    1. Zhang Wei, Rong-Hui Du, Li Bei et al. Molecular and serological investigation of 2019-nCoV infected patients: implication of multiple shedding routes. Emerg Microb Infect 2020; 1: 386-9.
    1. Gilbert M, Pullano G, Pinotti F et al. Preparedness and vulnerability of African countries against importations of COVID-19: a modelling study. Lancet 2020; 395: 871-7.
    1. Tetro JA. Is COVID-19 Receiving ADE From Other Coronaviruses? Microbes Infect 2020; 22: 72-3.

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources