COVID-19 patients age, comorbidity profiles and clinical presentation related to the SARS-CoV-2 UK-variant spread in the Southeast of France

  1. Johan Courjon
  2. Julie Contenti
  3. Elisa Demonchy
  4. Jacques Levraut
  5. Pascal Barbry
  6. Géraldine Rios
  7. Jean Dellamonica
  8. David Chirio
  9. Caroline Bonnefoy
  10. Valérie Giordanengo
  11. Michel Carles

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Abstract

The variant 20I/501Y.V1, associated to a higher risk of transmissibility, emerged in Nice city (Southeast of France, French Riviera) during January 2021. The pandemic has resumed late December 2020 in this area. A high incidence rate together with a fast turn-over of the main circulating variants, provided us the opportunity to analyze modifications in clinical profile and outcome traits. We performed an observational study in the University hospital of Nice from December 2020 to February 2021. We analyzed data of sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 from the sewage collector and PCR screening from all positive samples at the hospital. Then, we described the characteristics of all COVID-19 patients admitted in the emergency department (ED) (n = 1247) and those hospitalized in the infectious diseases ward or ICU (n = 232). The UK-variant was absent in this area in December, then increasingly spread in January representing 59% of the PCR screening performed mid-February. The rate of patients over 65 years admitted to the ED decreased from 63 to 50% (p = 0.001). The mean age of hospitalized patients in the infectious diseases ward decreased from 70.7 to 59.2 (p < 0.001) while the proportion of patients without comorbidity increased from 16 to 42% (p = 0.007). Spread of the UK-variant in the Southeast of France affects younger and healthier patients.

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  1. Version published to 10.1038/s41598-021-95067-7
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.04.12.21253817: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    All data were analyzed using SPSS software®.
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Our study has some limitations. First, data are retrospective. Then, data on the UK-variant spread results from analysis of sewage or selected hospital samples and not from a systematic survey. Data on hospitalized patients (variant versus “common” strain) are incomplete. Finally, patient’s data were extracted from ED, ID and a medical ICU of the University hospital of Nice, but patients hospitalized in other hospitals from the ED were not included in the study, leading to incomplete analysis of involved patients. Our study do not allow to distinguish an effect of the UK-variant at the individual level, that is a higher probability to develop pneumonia after a contact with the virus due to the Spike protein RBD mutations, from a modification of virus diffusion in the South East of France population leading to a higher exposure of younger inhabitants which could be related to the virus itself or to a modification in non-pharmaceutical interventions adherence. In summary, our data alerts on the consequences of the UK-variant spreading with younger and healthier patients requiring hospitalization for a SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. Health system impact (with the risk of overwhelming ICU and medical units) as well as social consequences should be assessed in larger prospective studies.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: We found the following clinical trial numbers in your paper:

    IdentifierStatusTitle
    NCT04779021RecruitingCaracterisation of COVID-19 Patients Hospitalized in Infecti…

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.04.12.21253817 on medRxiv