Progression, recovery and fatality in patients with SARS-CoV-2 related pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a single-centered, retrospective, observational study

This article has been Reviewed by the following groups

Read the full article

Abstract

Objectives To determine the case fatality rates and death risk factors. Design Retrospective case series. Setting A COVID-19 ward of a secondary Hospital in Wuhan, China. Participants Consecutively hospitalized COVID-19 patients between Jan 3, 2020 and Feb 27, 2020. Outcomes were followed up to discharge or death. Results Of 121 patients included, 66 (54.6%) were males. The median age was 59 (IQR: 46 to 67) years, and hypertension (33 patients; 27.3%) the leading comorbidity. Lymphopenia (83 of 115 patients; 72.2%) frequently occurred and then normalized on day 4 (IQR: 3 to 6) after admission in the survivors, with lung lesion absorbed gradually on day 8 (IQR: 6 to10) after onset (33 of 57 patients; 57.9%). The real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays for SARS-CoV-2 were positive in 78 (78/108; 72.2%) patients, and a false-negative RT-PCR occurred in 15 (13.9%) patients. Hypoxemia occurred in 94 (94/117; 80.3%) patients, and supplemental oxygen was given in 88 (72.7%) patients, and mon-invasive or invasive ventilation in 20 (16.5%) cases. Corticosteroid use might link to death. The case fatality rates were 4.4% (one of 23 patients), 29.3% (12/41), 22.8% (13/57) or 45% (9/20) for patients with moderate, severe, critical illness or on ventilator. The length of hospital stay was 14 (IQR: 10 to 20) days, and selfcare ability worsened in 21 patients (21/66; 31.8%) cases. Patients over 60 years were most likely to have poorer outcomes, and increasing in age by one-year increased risk for death by 18% (CI: 1.04-1.32). Conclusions In management of patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, especially the elderly with hypertension, close monitoring and appropriate supportive treatment should be taken earlier and aggressively to prevent from developing severe or critical illness. Corticosteroid use might link to death. Repeated RT-PCR tests or novel detection methods for SARS-CoV-2 should be adopted to improve diagnostic efficiency.

Article activity feed

  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2020.05.12.20099739: (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

    No key resources detected.


    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: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    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.