COVID‐19 in a designated infectious diseases hospital outside Hubei Province, China

• Published in: Allergy (Copenhagen) Vol. 75; no. 7; pp. 1742 - 1752
• Main Authors: Cai, Qingxian, Huang, Deliang, Ou, Pengcheng, Yu, Hong, Zhu, Zhibin, Xia, Zhang, Su, Yinan, Ma, Zhenghua, Zhang, Yiming, Li, Zhiwei, He, Qing, Liu, Lei, Fu, Yang, Chen, Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Denmark Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2020
• Subjects: corona Virus Disease 2019; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; epidemiological features; Epidemiology; Erythrocyte sedimentation rate; Fever; Hospitals; Infectious diseases; Patients; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; severe pneumonia; China; severe pneumonia; epidemiological features; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; corona Virus Disease 2019
• DOI: 10.1111/all.14309
• ISSN: 0105-4538; 1398-9995

Background The clinical characteristics of novel coronavirus disease (COVID‐2019) patients outside the epicenter of Hubei Province are less understood. Methods We analyzed the epidemiological and clinical features of all COVID‐2019 cases in the only referral hospital in Shenzhen City, China, from January 11, 2020, to February 6, 2020, and followed until March 6, 2020. Results Among the 298 confirmed cases, 233 (81.5%) had been to Hubei, while 42 (14%) did not have a clear travel history. Only 218 (73.15%) cases had a fever as the initial symptom. Compared with the nonsevere cases, severe cases were associated with older age, those with underlying diseases, and higher levels of C‐reactive protein, interleukin‐6, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Slower clearance of the virus was associated with a higher risk of progression to critical condition. As of March 6, 2020, 268 (89.9%) patients were discharged and the overall case fatality ratio was 1.0%. Conclusions In a designated hospital outside Hubei Province, COVID‐2019 patients could be effectively managed by properly using the existing hospital system. Mortality may be lowered when cases are relatively mild, and there are sufficient medical resources to care and treat the disease. This study analyzes the epidemiological and clinical features of all 298 COVID‐19 cases in the only referral hospital of Shenzhen City. Slower clearance of virus is associated with a higher progression to severe critical condition. Compared with the nonsevere cases, severe cases are associated with older age, underlying diseases, higher levels of C‐reactive protein, interleukin‐6, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Abbreviations: CRP, C‐reactive protein; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate.