Clinical course and characteristics of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 in Wuhan, China: a single-centered, retrospective, observational study

Abstract

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) is the virus responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) pandemic. Despite the extensive studies aiming to understand the pathology of COVID-19, the clinicopathological characteristics and risk factors associated with COVID-19 remain mostly unclear. In this study, we assessed the clinical course and features of COVID-19 patients.

Findings: There were 59 patients (54.1%) that had no fever. One-hundred(91.7%) patients required oxygen therapy, which improved percutaneous oxygen saturation (SpO₂). Seventy-two (66.1%) patients aged over 60; these patients were more likely to develop respiratory symptoms. Only 13(11.9%) patients were positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid, and computed tomography (CT) findings. We found significant differences in age, respiratory symptoms, and heart rates between patients with and without underlying conditions.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that oxygen plays an important role in the treatment of COVID-19 patients and that age and underlying diseases are significant risk factors for COVID-19. Most COVID-19 patients have no fever, and CT provides higher detection rates than antibody- and nucleic acid-based detection methods.

Methods: We analyzed data from 109 confirmed COVID-19 cases. We compared the clinicopathological characteristic of patients stratified according to age and underlying diseases, as well as assessed the detection rates of different diagnostic methods.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; chronic diseases; infection; risk factors.

Figure 1

Venn diagram showing the laboratory parameters and CT findings in COVID-19 patients. AB (+), positive antibody assay; AB (-), negative antibody assay; AB (0), antibody assay was not performed; RT-PCR (+), positive RT-PCR assay; RT-PCR (-), negative RT-PCR assay; RT-PCR (0), RT-PCR assay was not performed; CT (+), positive CT diagnosis; CT (-), negative CT diagnosis; CT (0), CT was not performed.