Epidemiological Characteristics and Clinical Outcomes of Coronavirus Disease Patients in Northwest China: High-Volume Research From Low Population Density Regions

Frontiers in Medicine

article

Jianfei Zhu¹  Hongtao Wang²  Zhipei Zhang¹  Shuonan Xu³  Jinbo Zhao¹  Tao Jiang¹  Qingqing Zhang⁴  Chenghui Jia¹  Wuping Wang¹  Jiakuan Chen¹  Yanmin Xia¹  Wenchen Wang¹  Xuejiao Wang¹  Miaomiao Wen¹ 

[1] Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University);Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital;Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University;Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University

关键词: COVID-19;    low density population;    public health intervention;    epidemiological characteristics;    outcomes;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2020.564250

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Background: Few studies have reported the transmission characteristics of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in low-density populations. This study has therefore analyzed the epidemiological characteristics and clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients in Northwestern China, an area with low population density. Methods: From January 21 to March 11, 2020, data from patients diagnosed with novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) in areas of Northwestern China with lower population densities were retrospectively analyzed. Certain variables were categorized as numbers and percentages, with the ratio between resident patients (no history of going out during the epidemic) and imported patients representing the contagiousness of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for COVID-19. Hospitalization time was also calculated. Results: A total of 617 COVID-19 patients were reported in Northwestern China, and the morbidity and mortality rates of 0.000005 and 0.011, respectively. Further analysis showed that the morbidity was inversely proportional to population density and distance from Wuhan City. This study enrolled 473 confirmed cases; among these patients, there were 248 residents and 225 imported cases with a ratio of 1:1. The youngest and oldest patients were 1 and 94 years of age, respectively, with a median age of 42 years. Fifteen (3.2%) patients were children or infants. Two patients were pregnant, and one patient gave birth to a healthy baby with negative results during her disease course. About 17.3% of patients (82 cases) were healthy carriers without any symptoms during their disease course. One male patient (0.2%) had recurrence of a positive test result 4 days after discharge. The median hospitalization time was 16.0 days, ranging from 2.0 to 43.0 days. Further analysis showed that age ( P = 0.03) and severity status ( P < 0.001) were significantly correlated with hospitalization time. Conclusions: The morbidity and mortality rates of COVID-19 patients in the regions with a low population density were lower than those of the national average in China. All populations were susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2. Asymptomatic patients with positive results should be taken seriously, and the hospitalization time of patients is associated with their age and severity status.

【 授权许可】

CC BY