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
Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Oct;92(10):1902-1914.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.25884. Epub 2020 Jun 24.

Clinical characteristics of 3062 COVID-19 patients: A meta-analysis

Jieyun Zhu  1 , Pan Ji  1 , Jielong Pang  1 , Zhimei Zhong  1 , Hongyuan Li  1 , Cuiying He  1 , Jianfeng Zhang  1 , Chunling Zhao  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Clinical characteristics of 3062 COVID-19 patients: A meta-analysis

Jieyun Zhu et al. J Med Virol. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

We aimed to systematically review the clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Seven databases were searched to collect studies about the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 from January 1, 2020 to February 28, 2020. Then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata12.0 software. A total of 38 studies involving 3062 COVID-19 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that a higher proportion of infected patients was male (56.9%). The incidence rate of respiratory failure or acute respiratory distress syndrome was 19.5% and the fatality rate was 5.5%. Fever (80.4%), fatigue (46%), cough (63.1%), and expectoration (41.8%) were the most common clinical manifestations. Other common symptoms included muscle soreness (33%), anorexia (38.8%), chest tightness (35.7%), shortness of breath (35%), dyspnea (33.9%). Minor symptoms included nausea and vomiting (10.2%), diarrhea (12.9%), headache (15.4%), pharyngalgia (13.1%), shivering (10.9%), and abdominal pain (4.4%). The proportion of patients that was asymptomatic was 11.9%. Normal leukocyte counts (69.7%), lymphopenia (56.5%), elevated C-reactive protein levels (73.6%), elevated ESR (65.6%), and oxygenation index decreased (63.6%) were observed in most patients. About 37.2% of patients were found with elevated D-dimer, 25.9% of patients with leukopenia, along with abnormal levels of liver function (29%), and renal function (25.5%). Other findings included leukocytosis (12.6%) and elevated procalcitonin (17.5%). Only 25.8% of patients had lesions involving a single lung and 75.7% of patients had lesions involving bilateral lungs. The most commonly experienced symptoms of COVID-19 patients were fever, fatigue, cough, and expectoration. A relatively small percentage of patients were asymptomatic. Most patients showed normal leucocytes counts, lymphopenia, elevated levels of C-reactive protein and ESR. Bilateral lung involvement was common.

Keywords: clinical characteristics; coronavirus disease 2019; meta-analysis; pneumonia; systematical review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of literature screening
Figure 2
Figure 2
Transformed proportion of males in COVID‐19 patients
Figure 3
Figure 3
Transformed incidence rate of fever in COVID‐19 patients
Figure 4
Figure 4
Transformed incidence rate of cough in COVID‐19 patients
Figure 5
Figure 5
Sensitivity analysis of the proportion of males in COVID‐19 patients
Figure 6
Figure 6
Evaluation of publication bias using a funnel plot based on the proportion of males
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Xu X, Chen P, Wang J, et al. Evolution of the novel coronavirus from the ongoing Wuhan outbreak and modeling of its spike protein for risk of human transmission. Sci China Life Sci. 2020;63(3):457–460. http://nc.yuntsg.com/one1.do. Accessed March 5, 2020. - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO . Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection when Novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection is suspected: interim guidance [Internet]. 2020. https://www.who.int/internalpublicationsdetail/clinicalmanagementofsever.... Accessed April 7, 2020.
    1. WHO . Statement on the second meeting of the International Health Regulations; 2005. Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019‐nCoV) [Internet]. https://www.who.int/newsroom/detail/30-01-2020-statement-on-thesecond-me.... Accessed April 7, 2020.
    1. WHO . WHO Director‐General's remarks at the media briefing on 2019‐nCoV on 11 February 2020. [Internet]. https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-remarks-at.... Accessed April 7, 2020.
    1. WHO . WHO Director‐General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID‐19–11 March 2020. [Internet]. https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-re.... Accessed April 7, 2020.

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances