SARS-CoV-2 is the third coronavirus discovered so far, and its infectivity is far stronger than the first two, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-CoV.10–13 SARS-CoV-2 has caused a pandemic worldwide.14,15 In this study, we reported 109 patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The median age was 63(IQR 29–97) years old, and 72 (66.1%) patients were over 60 years old. 47(43.1%) patients had chronic diseases. Among all patients, 100(91.7%) received supplemental O2, and their SpO2 values reached normal after O2 therapy, which indicated that O2 supplement therapy played an important role in the treatment of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.
We found that among the 109 patients, 59 (54.1%) of them did not have fever. Among the fever patients, the median body temperature was 37.8(IQR 37.3–40) ℃, and the median fever days were 2.5(IQR 1–8) days, therefore, it is unscientific to screen SARS-CoV-2 infection only by measuring body temperature. In addition, a small number of patients 14(12.9%) did not show respiratory symptoms on admission, but delayed. This means that it’s more scientific to observe more clinical symptoms, perform CT diagnoses and laboratory examination as early as possible for diagnosing COVID-19. Therefore, in the process of community prevention, isolation at home for more than 14 days can reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
In this study, we observed that the proportion of elderly patients (over 60 years old) was large, 72 (66.1%). Combined with the results of previous studies,1,16 we concluded that elderly patients were more likely to be infected with SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the elderly should pay more attention to the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection. People over 60 years old were more likely to develop respiratory symptoms compared to those who were under 60 years old, with 61(56%) VS 34(31.1%). At the same time, patients over 60 years old were more likely to have abnormal SpO2 than those under 60 years old, with 31.9% vs 29.6%. It is worth noting that after O2 supplement therapy, there are more patients with respiratory symptoms over 60 years old than those under 60 years old, with 23 (35.9%) VS 9 (25%). Therefore, the elderly, as a risk factor of infection of SARS-CoV-2, more attention should be paid to their clinical treatment and strengthen the support treatment.
It has been reported that patients with chronic diseases were more likely to be infected with SARS-CoV-2.16,17 In this study, we observed 47(43.1%) patients with chronic diseases. Among the chronic patients who received O2 supplement therapy, 13(31.7%) of them had respiratory symptoms after the treatment. Fortunately, SpO2 of all patients with chronic diseases was normal after receiving O2 supplement, which showed that O2 supplement is very important for the treatment of patients with chronic diseases.
The combination of laboratory examination and CT diagnosis played an important role in diagnosis with COVID-19. In this study, 91(83.5%) people were positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody, only 24(22.0%) cases were positive for SARS-COV-2 RT-PCR assay, while 101 (92.6%) of patients had positive CT diagnosis. Only 14 (12.8%) patients were positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody, SARS-COV-2 RT-PCR assay and CT diagnosis. Some studies have shown that some patients infected with SARS-COV-2 were negative in early anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody and SARS-COV-2 RT-PCR assay,18 while CT showed higher positive rate than laboratory examination, which indicated that it was very important to include positive CT diagnoses as confirmed diagnosis criteria.
There are three main shortcomings in this study. First, there are only 109 cases, but the patients’ characteristics are basically consistent with previous studies.1,6,17 Second, we lack some hematological indicators, such as blood routine, liver and kidney function, etc. Third, some important observation indexes are missing in the experimental data, such as the clinical outcomes, medication plans, living conditions and other symptoms. All of the information is very important to guide the treatment and predict the prognosis of patients.