Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients

BackgroundNumerous groups have reported the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases; however, the data remained inconsistent. This paper aimed to pool the available data to provide a more complete picture of the characteristics of COVID-19 patients. MethodsA systematic review and pooled analysis was performed. Eligible studies were identified from database and hand searches up to March 2, 2020. Data on clinical (including laboratory and radiological) and epidemiological (including demographic) characteristics of confirmed COVID-19 cases were extracted and combined by simple pooling. ResultsOf 644 studies identified, 69 studies (involving 48,926 patients) were included in the analysis. The average age of the patients was 49.16 years. A total of 51.46% of the patients were men and 52.32% were non-smokers. Hypertension (50.82%) and diabetes (20.89%) were the most frequent comorbidities observed. The most common symptoms were fever (83.21%), cough (61.74%), and myalgia or fatigue (30.22%). Altered levels of blood and biochemical parameters were observed in a proportion of the patients. Most of the patients (78.50%) had bilateral lung involvements, and 5.86% showed no CT findings indicative of viral pneumonia. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (28.36%), acute cardiac injury (7.89%) and acute kidney injury (7.60%) were the most common complications recorded. ConclusionsClinical and epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 patients were mostly heterogeneous and non-specific. This is the most comprehensive report of the characteristics of COVID-19 patients to date. The information presented is important for improving our understanding of the spectrum and impact of this novel disease.