tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Int J Clin Pract
. 2020 Oct 31;e13807.
doi: 10.1111/ijcp.13807. Online ahead of print.
Clinical characteristics and progression of COVID-19 confirmed cases admitted to a single British clinical centre-a brief case series report
J Conway[SUP] 1 [/SUP], A Gould[SUP] 1 [/SUP], R Westley[SUP] 1 [/SUP], S Raju[SUP] 1 [/SUP], A Oklopcic[SUP] 1 [/SUP], A Broadbent[SUP] 1 [/SUP], A H Abdelhafiz[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Objectives: In December 2019, a pneumonia like illness was first reported in Wuhan-China caused by a new coronavirus named corona virus disease -2019 (COVID-19) which then spread to cause a global pandemic. Most of the available data in the literature is derived from Chinese cohorts and we aim to contribute the clinical experience of a single British clinical centre with the characteristics of a British cohort.
Design: A prospective case series.
Setting: A single clinical centre in the UK.
Methods: We have collected the demographics and medical characteristics of all COVID-19 positive cases admitted over two-week period. All cases were diagnosed by PCR.
Results: Total of 71 COVID-19 patients were included in this case series. Majority of patients (75%) were ≥75 years old and 58% were men. Pre-existing comorbidities was common (85% of patients). Most patients presented with respiratory symptoms such as fever (59%), shortness of breath (56%) and cough (55%). Gastrointestinal symptoms were second most common presenting compliant such as diarrhoea (10%) and abdominal pain (7%). Opacification in chest X-rays were demonstrated in 45% of patients. All patients received supportive treatment and no specific antiviral therapy was administered in this cohort. So far, 18 (25%) patients have fully recovered, 9 patients (13%) escalated to a higher level of care and 10 (14%) have died. Patients who died were non-significantly older than those who have recovered (78.0 v 69.2 years, p=0.15) but they had a significantly higher clinical frailty scores (5.75 v 3.36, p=0.005).
Conclusion: This case series demonstrated that the characteristics of British COVID-19 patients were generally similar to what is published in literature although we report more gastrointestinal symptoms at presentation. We have identified frailty as a risk factor for adverse outcome in COVID-19 patients and suggest that it should be included in the future vaccination recommendations.
Keywords: COVID-19; characteristics; clinical presentation; outcome; patients.
. 2020 Oct 31;e13807.
doi: 10.1111/ijcp.13807. Online ahead of print.
Clinical characteristics and progression of COVID-19 confirmed cases admitted to a single British clinical centre-a brief case series report
J Conway[SUP] 1 [/SUP], A Gould[SUP] 1 [/SUP], R Westley[SUP] 1 [/SUP], S Raju[SUP] 1 [/SUP], A Oklopcic[SUP] 1 [/SUP], A Broadbent[SUP] 1 [/SUP], A H Abdelhafiz[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33128856
- DOI: 10.1111/ijcp.13807
Abstract
Objectives: In December 2019, a pneumonia like illness was first reported in Wuhan-China caused by a new coronavirus named corona virus disease -2019 (COVID-19) which then spread to cause a global pandemic. Most of the available data in the literature is derived from Chinese cohorts and we aim to contribute the clinical experience of a single British clinical centre with the characteristics of a British cohort.
Design: A prospective case series.
Setting: A single clinical centre in the UK.
Methods: We have collected the demographics and medical characteristics of all COVID-19 positive cases admitted over two-week period. All cases were diagnosed by PCR.
Results: Total of 71 COVID-19 patients were included in this case series. Majority of patients (75%) were ≥75 years old and 58% were men. Pre-existing comorbidities was common (85% of patients). Most patients presented with respiratory symptoms such as fever (59%), shortness of breath (56%) and cough (55%). Gastrointestinal symptoms were second most common presenting compliant such as diarrhoea (10%) and abdominal pain (7%). Opacification in chest X-rays were demonstrated in 45% of patients. All patients received supportive treatment and no specific antiviral therapy was administered in this cohort. So far, 18 (25%) patients have fully recovered, 9 patients (13%) escalated to a higher level of care and 10 (14%) have died. Patients who died were non-significantly older than those who have recovered (78.0 v 69.2 years, p=0.15) but they had a significantly higher clinical frailty scores (5.75 v 3.36, p=0.005).
Conclusion: This case series demonstrated that the characteristics of British COVID-19 patients were generally similar to what is published in literature although we report more gastrointestinal symptoms at presentation. We have identified frailty as a risk factor for adverse outcome in COVID-19 patients and suggest that it should be included in the future vaccination recommendations.
Keywords: COVID-19; characteristics; clinical presentation; outcome; patients.