Characteristics of hospitalised COVID-19 patients and parameters associated with severe pneumonia

Abstract

Background: After the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in China in December 2019, it caused a global pandemic, including Turkey. Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyse the characteristics of hospitalised COVID-19 patients and assess the parameters related to severe pneumonia. Methods: Included in the study were hospitalised COVID-19 patients with positive naso-oropharyngeal swabs. Patients’ demographics, admission symptoms, laboratory and radiological findings were recorded retrospectively. Results: Of 1013 patients, 583 were males (57.6%) and 430 were females (42.4%), with a mean age of 53.7 ± 17.9. More than half of the patients had at least one comorbidities, the most common of which were hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Cough (59.8%), fatigue (49.5%) and fever (41.2%) were the most common presenting symptoms. Of the hospitalised COVID-19 patients, 84.9% had pneumonia and 83.5% had typical radiological COVID-19 appearances (94.5%: ground-glass areas). The most common laboratory findings were high C-reactive protein (CRP) (73.6%) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (46.2%) levels, as well as lymphopenia (30.1%). Severe pneumonia was present in 28.1% of COVID-19 patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that advanced age, hypotension, anaemia and elevated CRP and LDH serum levels were independent risk factors for the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia (P =.011,.006,.017,.003 and.001, respectively). Conclusion: This study, as one of the first multicentre studies about characteristics of COVID-19 in Turkey, may guide about disease-related parameters and severity of pneumonia. Age, blood pressure, complete blood count and routine biochemical tests (including CRP and LDH) would appear to be important parameters for the evaluation of the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia.