Clinical Characteristics of Re‐hospitalized Patients with COVID‐19 in China

Chen, Min; An, Wei; Xia, Fei; Yang, Ping; Li, Kuangyu; Zhou, Qin; Fang, Shasha; Liao, Yaling; Xu, Xin; Liu, Jialin; Liu, Shiguo; Qin, Tao; Zhang, Jianjun; Wei, Wei; Zhang, Yafang; Zhang, Guowei; Zhang, Mingwei

BACKGROUND: This study aims to observe the clinical characteristics of recovered patients from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID 19) with positive in RT‐PCR or serum antibody. METHODS: The profile, clinical symptoms, laboratory outcomes and radiologic assessments were extracted on 11 patients, who tested positive for COVID‐19 with RT‐PCR or serum antibody after discharged and was admitted to Hubei No. 3 People's Hospital of Jianghan University for a second treatment in March 2020. RESULTS: The average interval time between the first discharge and the second admission measured 16.00 ± 7.14 days, ranging from 6 to 27 days. In the second hospitalization, 1 patient was positive for RT‐PCR and serum antibody IgM‐IgG, 5 patients were positive for both IgM and IgG but negative for RT‐PCR. 3 patients were positive for both RT‐PCR and IgG but negative for IgM. The main symptoms were cough (54.5%), fever (27.3%) and feeble (27.3%) in the second hospitalization. Compared with the first hospitalization, there were significant decreases in gastrointestinal symptoms (5 vs. 0, P=0.035), elevated levels of both white blood cell count(P=0.036) and lymphocyte count (P=0.002), remarkedly decreases in CRP and SAA (P<0.05) in the second hospitalization. Additionally, 6 patients' chest CT exhibited notable improvements in acute exudative lesions CONCLUSION: There could be the positive results for RT‐PCR analysis or serum IgM‐IgG in discharged patients, even with mild clinical symptoms, however, their laboratory outcomes and chest CT images would not indicate the on‐going development in those patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.