Primary Symptoms, Comorbidities, and Outcomes of 431 Hospitalized Patients with Confirmative RT-PCR Results for COVID-19

Norooznezhad, Amir Hossein; Najafi, Farid; Riahi, Parisa; Moradinazar, Mehdi; Shakiba, Ebrahim; Mostafaei, Shayan

This study aimed to evaluate the primary symptoms, comorbidities, and outcomes of inpatients with confirmed reverse transcription–PCR (RT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 infection among 2077 suspected/diagnosed cases of COVID-19. Based on the results of Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) logistic regression, age, and suggestive chest X-ray (CXR) findings for SARS-CoV-2 infection, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, chronic lung diseases, and intensive care units admission had significant associations with positive RT-PCR results for COVID-19 infection. Also, the highest area under the curve (AUC) was related to cough (AUC = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.51–0.56), dyspnea (AUC = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.50–0.54), and abnormal CXR (AUC = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.50–0.54), as significant predictors. This study showed that some symptoms including cough and dyspnea, as well as abnormal CXR, could be proper predictors of positive RT-PCR result for SARS-CoV-2 infection. It seems that patients with underlying disease(s), such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and chronic lung diseases, had a higher probability to have positive RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 infection than those with no underlying disease(s).