Clinical and demographic characteristics of patients with COVID-19 infection: Statistics from a single hospital in Iran

1.Introduction

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) resulting from the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a global pandemic in early 2020 [1]. Iran has been among the first countries experienced epidemic of this viral infection [2]. The clinical manifestations of COVID-19 is quite wide, including asymptomatic infection, minor upper respiratory tract disease, and severe extensive pneumonia leading to respiratory distress and even demise [3, 4, 5]. Disease severity is influenced by a number of population specific parameters [6] necessitating recognition of possible risk factors and clinical manifestations in each population. A recent meta-analysis of 32 papers reporting the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 in 49504 patients has demonstrated fever, cough and fatigue as the most common symptoms, respectively. Bilateral pneumonia, ground-glass opacity, thrombocytopenia and lymphocytopenia were the most common radiological and paraclinical manifestations [7]. Few studies have analyzed COVID-19 course and mortality-related risk factors in Iranian population. In a single-center study, Ashraf et al. have reported shortness of breath and cough as the most frequent symptoms at the time of admission. Moreover, they reported the presence of fever in 45.2% of the patients at that time. Death occurred in 4.3% of their admitted patients [8]. Another single-center study from Iran reported mortality rate of 7.14% for admitted patients with COVID-19. Moreover, they reported extensive involvement of lungs and remarkable damage to the pulmonary tissue in these patients [9]. In the current study, we report the clinical, paraclinal and demographic data of patients admitted to Nikan hospital, Tehran with the confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19.

2.Methods

3.Results

Clinical and demographic data of a total 82 patients were assessed. The median age (IQR) of the patients was 57.32 (45.75, 70) years. Female/male ratio was 36 (43.9%)/46 (56.09%). Among the admitted patients, 26 patients (31.7%) were hospitalized in ICU, one of them expired. Sixty seven (81.7%) of patients needed oxygen therapy. Two patients (2.4%) needed mechanical ventilation. The median (IQR) of hospitalization was 7 (5, 9) days. All patients were discharged with good health conditions except for one patient who died. Table 1 shows the clinical manifestations of admitted patients. The most common clinical symptoms were dyspnea (81.71%) and cough (65.85%). Fever was detected in 37 (45.12%) of patients.

Figure 1.

Proportions of patients with certain numbers of risk factors.

Assessment of past medical history of admitted patients revealed hypertension and diabetes as the most frequent chronic disorder which affected 32 (39.02%) and 21 (25.61%) of admitted patients, respectively. Totally, 33 (40.2%) of individuals have a history of chronic diseases. In addition, 13 (15.85%) of individuals have family history of chronic diseases. Table 2 shows the summary of medical history of admitted patients.

Totally, 21.92% of patients had none of the mentioned risk factors, while 1.37% had seven risk factors. Figure 1 shows the proportion of patients with each mentioned risk factors.

A comprehensive laboratory investigation was performed at the time of admission. The median values, normal ranges of parameters, 95% confidence intervals and Interquartile (IQR) are shown in Table 3. Statistical analyses showed significant deviations from the normal range in the WBC count, RBC count, MCV, MCH, MCHC, Platelet count, CRP and IL-6 levels in the admitted patients.

Totally, 12 (14.63%) and 14 (17.07%) of patients had low and high WBC counts, respectively. Lymphopenia was detected in 36 (43.9%) of patients, while 6 (7.32%) of patients had lymphocytosis. High levels of Il-6 were detected in 4 (4.88%) of patients. CRP levels were elevated in 69 (84.1%) of patients. Table 4 shows the proportion of patients with lower/normal/upper values of laboratory parameters.

4.Discussion

In the current study, we presented the clinical and demographic data of patients with COVID-19 who were admitted in a single hospital in Tehran. In our cohort of COVID-19 patients, we detected a higher number of male patients than female patients. Such sex bias has been previously reported in similar viral infections including MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV [10, 11] and in SARS-CoV-2 case series from other population [12].

Disease course and clinical manifestations of COVID-19 have been assessed in different populations. A retrospective, multicenter cohort study in Wuhan, China has reported the presence of a comorbid condition in 48% of patients, with hypertension, diabetes and coronary heart disease being the most frequent comorbid conditions, respectively [3]. The results of the present single-center study are consistent with this study regarding the presence of comorbid conditions. Yet the percentage of affected individuals with these conditions was higher than the previously reported value. In addition, the frequency of chronic underlying diseases in patients infected with SARS-Cov-2 is comparable with MERS-CoV [10].

Moreover, the frequencies of clinical manifestations such as dyspnea, cough, fever and myalgia in our cohort of patients are comparable with the recent single-center study by Ashraf et al. [8]. The prevalence of fever and cough in these two Iranian studies is comparable with the statistics reported in a cohort of Chinese patients including 1099 from 552 hospitals [13]. Yet, the frequency of fever at the admission is significantly lower from the reports of two single-center case series of 138 and 99 Chinese patients which detected fever in 98.6% and 83% of patients, respectively [12, 14].

In the present cohort of patients, 12.2% of patients had atypical symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting at the time of admission. Consistent with this finding, Wang et al. have reported diarrhea and nausea as initial symptoms in a significant percentage of patients [14]. Thus, special consideration should be given in assessment of suspected patients with these symptoms.

Totally, 12 (14.63%) and 14 (17.07%) of patients had low and high WBC counts, respectively. Lymphopenia was detected in 36 (43.9%) of patients, while 6 (7.32%) of patients had lymphocytosis. These data is not consistent with the results of Chen et al. study which reported decrease in the absolute number of lymphocytes in most COVID-19 patients. They suggested that SARS-CoV-2 may largely act on lymphocytes, particularly T lymphocytes, in a similar way to SARS-CoV [12]. They also suggested that the cytokine storm caused by the virus might cause a sequence of immune responses leading to alteration in the number of peripheral WBCs including lymphocytes [12]. The discrepancy between our results and the results of mentioned study might be due to small sample size of our study or ethnic factors. Another single-center study from Iran has reported higher WBC counts in critically ill patients compared with the other group of patients [8]. However, we only detected higher CRP and IL-6 levels in patients admitted to ICU compared with other patients. Assessment of data from other centers and meta-analysis of the whole clinical and laboratory findings would provide a more elaborate outlook of the clinical and paraclinical findings associated with COVID-19 [15].

We also assessed IL-6 levels in COVID-19 patients. High levels of IL-6 were detected in 4 (4.88%) of patients. Moreover, the median level of this cytokine was higher in patients who were admitted to ICU. Consistent with this finding, elevation of in IL-6 levels in patients with COVID-19 has been associated with the severity of disorder [16]. Meanwhile, inhibition of IL-6 release has been suggested as an effective modality for treatment of COVID-19 [17].

In brief, the current study in a cohort of COVID-19 patients with confirmed molecular diagnosis shows the heterogeneous clinical manifestations and paraclinical parameters in these patients. Future assessment of clinical course and laboratory findings in larger cohorts of patients would facilitate identification of risk factors and predictive markers for COVID-19 severity.