Increasing Age, the Existence of Comorbidities, and Corticosteroid Treatment in Combination With Antiviral Therapy Prolongs the Recovery of SARS-COV-2-Infected Patients, Measured as the Conversion From Positive to Negative rtPCR: A 239 Patients' Retrospective Study

Zhu, Sheng; Huang, Yaxiong; Tang, Wei; Nussler, Andreas K.; Zheng, Fang

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2), has become a global pandemic in the past months. An overall defined treatment has not yet been established. Therefore, it is important to summarize and report treatment experiences and identify patient groups that have a significantly higher risk of an adverse clinical outcome. Methods: Two hundred thirty-nine COVID-19 patients were recruited from January 25 to February 15, 2020. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, treatment management, and outcome data obtained from patients' medical records were evaluated. Results: Patients who recovered from PCR positive to negative within 2 weeks had significantly lower erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels than those recovered post 2 weeks. During antiviral treatment, COVID-19 patients with older age, comorbidities, and corticosteroid treatment required a significantly longer time to turn from PCR positive to negative COVID-19 result. Conclusion: PCR tests are of great importance to evaluate the recovery of COVID-19-positive patients, and ESR could be an indirect indicator to monitor SARS-COV-2 activity. Furthermore, our data suggest that older age, the existence of comorbidities, and corticosteroid treatment of COVID-19 patients during antiviral treatment could prolong the duration of conversion from SARS-COV-2 positive to negative.