Clinical characteristics and outcomes of 48 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 infection in Wuxi: A retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Since the first infected case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019, the virus has spread swiftly, inflicting upon millions of people around the globe. The objective of the study is to investigate and analyze the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients infected with COVID-19 in Wuxi, China.Cross-sectional study.The Fifth People's Hospital of Wuxi, China.A total of 48 COVID-19 patients were enrolled in the study from 23 January 2020 to 8 March 2020, and the clinical data of these subjects were collected.Epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, and radiologic characteristics, as well as treatment and outcome data, were collected and analyzed.Of these 48 patients with confirmed COVID-19, 3 were mild cases (6.3%), 44 were moderate cases (91.7%), 1 was severe case (2.1%). The median age of the subjects was 45 years (interquartile range [IQR], 24-59; range, 5-75 years). Twenty-five of the patients (52.1%) were male and 23 (47.9%) were female. Twenty-eight cases (58.3%) returned to Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. Thirty-four (70.8%) cases were infected due to clustering epidemic and 29 cases (85.3%) were attributable to family-clustering epidemic. No obvious clinical symptoms were observed in the cohort of patients, except for 3 mild cases. The most common symptoms include fever (41 [85.4%]), cough (28 [58.3%]), asthenia (13 [27.1%]), expectoration (11 [22.9%]), diarrhea (10 [20.8%]), and dyspnea (5 [10.4%]). Seventeen (35.4%) patients had lower lymphocyte values than baseline, 31 patients (64.6%) had higher d-dimers to exceed the normal range. The distribution of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT)-positive lesions were as follows: left lung in 5 cases (10.4%), right lung in 9 cases (18.8%), and bilateral lungs in 31 cases (64.6%). In terms of density of lesions: 28 cases (58.3%) showed ground glass shadows in the lung, 7 cases (14.6%) showed solid density shadows, and 10 cases (20.8%) showed mixed density shadows. Extrapulmonary manifestations found that mediastinal lymph nodes were enlarged in 2 cases (4.2%) and that pleural effusion was present in 1 case (2.1%). All patients underwent treatment in quarantine. Forty-five (93.8%) patients received antiviral treatments, 22 (45.8%) patients received antibacterial treatments, 6 (12.5%) patients received glucocorticoid treatments, 2 (4.2%) patients received high flow oxygen inhalation treatments, and 6 (12.5%) patients received noninvasive ventilation treatments. As of 8 March 2020, all 48 patients included in this study were cured. The average time of hospitalization of the 48 patients was 18 ± 6 (mean ± SD) days, the average time of the lesion resorption was 11 ± 4 days, and the average time taken to achieve negativity in the result of nucleic acid examination was (10 ± 4) days.The epidemiological characteristics of 48 COVID-19 patients in Wuxi were mainly imported cases and clustered cases. The clinical manifestations of these patients were mainly fever and cough. Laboratory results showed that the lymphocytopenia and increased d-dimer are positively correlated with disease severity. Pulmonary imaging showed unilateral or bilateral ground glass infiltration. Most of the patients entered clinical recovery stage within 15 days after hospitalization.

Figure 1

Transverse thin-section serial CT scans from a 49-year-old woman: (A) CT image of the 2th day of hospitalization: ground glass shadow visible in left lower lung, (B) CT image analysis on the 13th day of hospitalization: shows healing of the ground glass shadow.

Figure 2

Transverse thin-section serial CT scans from a 61-year-old woman: (A) CT image of the 1th day of hospitalization: solid density shadows visible in both lungs, (B) CT image analysis on the 24th day of hospitalization: shows healing of the solid density shadows.

Figure 3

Transverse thin-section serial CT scans from a 53-year-old man: (A) CT image of the 9th day of hospitalization: mixed density shadows visible in both lungs, (B) CT image analysis on the 16th day of hospitalization: shows healing of the mixed density shadows.