Clinical characteristics of 140 patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China.

Zhang, Jin-Jin; Dong, Xiang; Cao, Yi-Yuan; Yuan, Ya-Dong; Yang, Yi-Bin; Yan, You-Qin; Akdis, Cezmi A; Gao, Ya-Dong

BACKGROUND Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus -2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has been widely spread. We aim to investigate the clinical characteristic and allergy status of patients infected by SARS-CoV-2. METHODS Electronical medical records including demographics, clinical manifestation, comorbidities, laboratory data and radiological materials of 140 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, with confirmed result of SARS-CoV-2 viral infection were extracted and analysed. RESULTS An approximately 1:1 ratio of male (50.7%) and female COVID-19 patients was found, with an overall median age of 57.0 years. All patients were community acquired cases. Fever (91.7%), cough (75.0%), fatigue (75.0%) and gastrointestinal symptoms (39.6%) were the most common clinical manifestations, whereas hypertension (30.0%) and diabetes mellitus (12.1%) were the most common comorbidities. Drug hypersensitivity (11.4%) and urticaria (1.4%) were self-reported by several patients. Asthma or other allergic diseases was not reported by any of the patients. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, 1.4%) and current smokers (1.4%) were rare. Bilateral ground glass or patchy opacity (89.6%) were the most common signs of radiological finding. Lymphopenia (75.4%) and eosinopenia (52.9%) were observed in most patients. Blood eosinophil counts correlate positively with lymphocyte counts in severe (r=0.486, p<0.001) and non-severe (r=0.469, p<0.001) patients after hospital admission. Significantly higher levels of D-dimer, C-reactive protein and procalcitonin were associated with severe patients compared to non-severe patients (all p<0.001). CONCLUSION Detailed clinical investigation of 140 hospitalized COVID-19 cases suggest eosinopenia together with lymphopenia may be a potential indicator for diagnosis. Allergic diseases, asthma and COPD are not risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Elder age, high number of comorbidities and more prominent laboratory abnormalities were associated with severe patients.