Prevalence and clinical features of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Fever Clinic of a teaching hospital in Beijing: a single-center, retrospective study

Ying Liang; Jingjin Liang; Qingtao Zhou; Xiaoguang Li; Fei Lin; Zhonghua Deng; Biying Zhang; Lu Li; Xiaohua Wang; Hong Zhu; Qingbian Ma; Xiaomei Tong; Jie Xu; Yongchang Sun

From January 21 to February 15, 2020, based on epidemiological evidence, fever and/or respiratory symptoms, chest radiological findings and blood white blood cell (WBC) results, physicians at the Fever Clinic referred 156 cases to panel discussion by multi-discipline experts. After discussion, 110 were considered to be possible or probable cases of COVID-19, and received 2019-nCoV real-time PCR testing, which was positive in 19 cases (confirmed cases). In another 2 patients, though PCR testing was negative, a clinical diagnosis was made according to epidemiological evidence, consistent clinical and CT findings (clinical cases). These 21 cases were grouped as COVID-19 for this analysis. For the remaining cases with negative viral detection, the diagnosis of COVID-19 was excluded based on inconsistent epidemiological, clinical or radiological data. Among these, 22 were excluded from the analysis because of lack of CT scan or no signs of pneumonia on CT scan, and finally 67 patients with pneumonia of other etiologies were included for analysis as the non-COVID-19 group (see patient selection flowchart in Figure 1 ).