Clinical Course and Features of Critical Patients with COVID-19: A Single- Center, Retrospective Study from Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital (preprint)

Background: Nationally, the indicators tracking the coronavirus pandemic has remained stable. However, it’s still a public health concern and it’s worth providing more front-line data on critical illness. We aim to investigate the clinical course and features of critical patients with Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).Methods: The data on 124 consecutive critical patients from 8th February through April 16th 2020, including demographic and clinical information, were obtained from the intensive care unit (ICU) of Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital. A cross-sectional survey and comparisons of key biomarkers between survivors and nonsurvivors were performed.Results: Over the study period, 57 nonsurvivors and 67 survivors were included. The overall case-fatality rate for critical patients with COVID-19 was approximately 46%. The overall average age was 69.89±11.03 years, and the majority had underlying health problems such as hypertension (63[51%]) and diabetes (27[22%]). Compared with survivors, nonsurvivors were more likely to develop sepsis (57[100%] vs. 34[51%]), acute respiratory distress syndrome (52[91%] vs. 21[38%]) and organ dysfunction. Besides, the dynamic changes in some biomarkers (i.e. WBC, TLC, CRP, PLT) were significantly different between the two groups. The trajectories of temperature revealed that the group with a high temperature on admission that steadily declined had the highest percentage of deaths (84.21%).Conclusions: The elderly with many concomitant diseases were at the highest risk. Lymphocyte, platelet, C-reactive protein and temperature were revealed to have potential as prognostic factors, whereas some other biomarkers, such as hepatic enzymes, may not offer additional information. Moreover, patients with high temperatures on admission should receive extra care.

Clinical course and features of critical patients with COVID-19: a single- center, retrospective study from Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital (preprint)

Background : The coronavirus pandemic has become a growing public health concern worldwide, and there are insufficient epidemiological data on critical illness. Objective: To investigate the clinical course and features of critical patients with Corona Virus Disease 2019 ( COVID-19 ). Methods: The data on 94 consecutive critical patients from 8 th February through 16 th March 2020, including demographic and clinical information, were obtained from the intensive care unit (ICU) of Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital. A cross-sectional survey and comparisons of key biomarkers between survivors and nonsurvivors were performed. Results: Over the study period, 42 nonsurvivors and 52 survivors were included. The overall case fatality rate for critical patients with COVID-19 was approximately 45%. The average age was 69.17±9.55 years, and the majority had underlying health problems such as hypertension (56[60%]) and diabetes (18[19%]). The median length of ICU stay was 8 days (IQR 4, 13). Compared with survivors, nonsurvivors were more likely to develop sepsis (42[100%] vs. 34[65%]), acute respiratory distress syndrome (40[95%] vs. 28[54%]) and organ dysfunction. In addition, the dynamic changes in some biomarkers were significantly different between the two groups. The trajectories of temperature revealed that the group with a high temperature on admission that steadily declined had the highest percentage of deaths (93.33%). Conclusions: Patients aged 60 years or older with many concomitant diseases were at highest risk, and the fatality rate started to increase with age. Lymphocyte, platelet, C-reactive protein and hypersensitivity troponin I were revealed to have potential as prognostic factors, whereas some other biomarkers, such as hepatic enzymes, may not offer additional information. Moreover, patients with high temperatures on admission should receive extra care.

Clinical course and features of critical patients with COVID-19: a single-center, retrospective study from Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital (preprint)

Background and Aims: The coronavirus pandemic has become a growing public health concern worldwide, and there are insufficient epidemiological data on critical illness. We sought to investigate the clinical course and features of critical patients with Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).Method: The data on 94 critical patients from 8th February through 16th March 2020, including demographic and clinical information, were obtained from the intensive care unit (ICU) of Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital. A cross-sectional survey and comparisons of key biomarkers between survivors and nonsurvivors were performed.Results: Over the study period, 42 nonsurvivors and 52 survivors were included. The overall case fatality rate for critical patients with COVID-19 was approximately 45%. The average age was 69.17±9.55 years, and the majority had underlying health problems such as hypertension (56[60%]) and diabetes (18[19%]). The median length of ICU stay was 8 days (IQR 4, 13). Compared with survivors, nonsurvivors were more likely to develop sepsis (42[100%] vs. 34[65%]), acute respiratory distress syndrome (40[95%] vs. 28[54%]) and organ dysfunction. In addition, the dynamic changes in some biomarkers were significantly different between the two groups. The trajectories of temperature revealed that the group with a high temperature on admission that steadily declined had the highest percentage of deaths (93.33%).Conclusion: Patients aged 60 years or older with many concomitant diseases were at highest risk, and the fatality rate started to increase with age. Lymphocyte, platelet, C-reactive protein and hypersensitivity troponin I were revealed to have potential as prognostic factors, whereas some other biomarkers, such as hepatic enzymes, may not offer additional information. Moreover, patients with high temperatures on admission should receive extra care.

Clinical characteristics of survivors and non-survivors, medical and non-medical staff members with 2019-nCoV pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study (preprint)

Objectives: In December 2019，the 2019 novel coronavirus ( 2019-nCoV ) emerged in Wuhan, China, leading to a cluster of severe pneumonia cases. Medical staff members on the front line were also infected. We compared the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and treatment measures of survivors and non-survivors and the different clinical outcomes of medical staff members and non-medical members of the community infected with 2019-nCoV. Methods: We included 81 patients with adult 2019-nCoV in Hankou Hospital from mid-January to mid-February 2020 in this single-center retrospective study. Data were compared between survivors and non-survivors and between medical staff members and non-medical individuals. Results: All 38 medical staff members were infected by patients while working. Only 2 (2.5%) non-medical individuals had a clear history of exposure to 2019-nCoV patients. The median age was 49 years (interquartile range [IQR], 35-59; range, 23-89 years), and 42 (51.9%) were women. We found that the median age,comorbidity, and some laboratory outcomes(lymphocyte count, urea nitrogen, aspartate aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, etc.)differed significantly between survivors and non-survivors. There were also significant differences in the time from onset to admission, disease classification, comorbidity, and prognosis between medical staff members and non-medical individuals. All medical staff members were cured, while 13 (30.2%) non-medical individuals died. Conclusions: Older males with comorbidities are more likely to be affected by 2019-nCoV. Significant changes in some laboratory markers may indicate a poor prognosis. Medical staff members may have had better prognoses due to fewer comorbidities and better medical compliance. Key words: 2019-nCoV; Clinical characteristics; Mortality; comorbidity; Survivors; Non-survivors; Medical Staff

Immune Cell Profiling of COVID-19 Patients in the Recovery Stage by Single-Cell Sequencing (preprint)

COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 has recently affected over 200,000 people and killed more than 8000. Immune system dysregulation such as lymphopenia and inflammatory cytokine storm has been observed in COVID-19 patients, but it remains unclear for the change of key immune cell subsets and their states during COVID-19. Here, we applied single-cell technology to comprehensively characterize transcriptional changes of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in ten patients recovered from COVID-19. Compared with healthy control, COVID-19 induced a unique signature of immune cells in humans, especially in the early recovery stage (ERS). In ERS patients, T cells were decreased remarkably, while monocytes were increased. A detailed analysis of monocytes showed that there was an increased ratio of classical CD14++ monocytes with highly inflammatory genes expression, as well as a greater abundance of CD14++IL1B+ monocytes. For nature killer (NK) cells and T cells, CD4+ T cells were significantly decreased and expressed high level of inflammatory markers, while NK cells were increased. In addition, T cells were highly expanded clone, especially in CD4+ T memory cells and CD8+ T cells. Among B cells, plasma cells were increased remarkably, and naive B cells were reduced. Our study also identified several novel B cell receptor (BCR) changes (such as IGHV1-8 and IGHV3-7), and confirmed isotypes (IGKV3-11 and IGHV3-21) previously used for virus vaccine development. The strongest pairing frequencies, IGHV3-23+IGHJ4, indicated a monoclonal state associated with SARS-CoV-2 specificity. Furthermore, integrated analysis predicated that IL-1B and M-CSF may be novel candidate target gene for inflammatory storm, and TNFSF13, IL-18 and IL-4 may be benefit for the recovery of COVID-19 patients. Our study provides the first evidence of inflammatory immune signature in early recovery stage, suggesting that the COVID-19 patients are still vulnerable after hospital discharge. Our identification of novel BCR signaling may lead to the development of vaccine and antibodies for the treatment of COVID-19.