Clinical Characteristics of Novel Coronavirus Described

Researchers conducted a retrospective, single-center case series on 138 patients hospitalized from January 1 to January 28, 2020 with confirmed 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)–infected pneumonia in Wuhan China in order to better understand the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the infection.

“The number of cases has increased rapidly but information on the clinical characteristics of affected patients is limited,” the authors wrote.

The median age among the 138 patients was 56 years. Hospital-associated transmission was suspected among patients who were health professionals (n = 40) or who were hospitalized at the time they contracted the infection (n = 17).

Common symptoms included fever (n = 136), fatigue (n =96), and dry cough (n =82). Further, lymphopenia (n = 97), prolonged prothrombin time (n = 80) and elevated lactate dehydrogenase (n = 55) were observed. Bilateral patchy shadows or ground glass opacity were observed with chest computed tomographic scans in all of the patients.

Of the 138 patients, 36 required intensive care due to complications, including acute respiratory distress syndrome (n = 22), arrhythmia (n = 16), and shock (n = 11). Those patients treated in the intensive care unit were older (median age 66 years vs 51 years), more likely to have comorbidities (n = 23 vs 20) and anorexia (n = 24 vs 31).

As of the end of follow-up (February 3, 2020), 47 patients had been discharged and 6 had died. The remaining patients were still hospitalized. The median hospital stay among those discharged was 10 days.

“The data in this study suggest rapid person-to-person transmission of 2019-nCoV may have occurred…One reason for the rapid spread may be related to the atypical symptoms in the early stage in some patients infected with [2019-nCoV],” the authors concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:
Wang D, Hu B, Hu C, et al.
Clinical characteristics of 138 hospitalized patients with 2019 novel coronavirus–infected pneumonia in Wuhan, China [published online February 7, 2020). JAMA. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.1585.