Epidemiological and clinical features of COVID-19 inpatients in Changsha, China: A retrospective study from 2020 to 2022
Xiaofang Liu,
Pan Zhang,
Meiping Chen,
Haibo Zhou,
Tingting Yue,
Ming Xu,
Ting Cai,
Juan Huang,
Xiaoyang Yue,
Guangdi Li,
Zhiguo Zhou
Affiliations
Xiaofang Liu
Department of Medical Administration, The Affiliated Changsha Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University (The First Hospital of Changsha) Changsha 410000, China
Pan Zhang
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
Meiping Chen
Department of Infectious Diseases, The Affiliated Changsha Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University (The First Hospital of Changsha), Changsha, 410000, China
Haibo Zhou
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Changsha Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University (The First Hospital of Changsha), Changsha, 410000, China
Tingting Yue
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
Ming Xu
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
Ting Cai
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
Juan Huang
Department of Pediatrics, The Affiliated Changsha Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University(The First Hospital of Changsha), Changsha, 410000, China
Xiaoyang Yue
Department of General Medicine, The Affiliated Changsha Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University(The First Hospital of Changsha), Changsha, 410000, China
Guangdi Li
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
Zhiguo Zhou
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Changsha Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University (The First Hospital of Changsha), Changsha, 410000, China; Corresponding author. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Changsha Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University (The First Hospital of Changsha), 311 Yingpan Road, Kaifu, Changsha, 410000, China.
Objectives: The spread of SARS-Cov-2 remains a global concern along with the emergence of variants. This study aims to characterize the epidemiological and clinical features of hospitalized patients who were dragonized with five different variants of SARS-CoV-2 during the past 3 years. Methods: This retrospective study recruited 432 COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized in the First Hospital of Changsha from January 2020 to August 2022. Clinical records on clinical symptoms, laboratory profiles, and chest CT images was collected. The epidemiological and clinical features were compared between COVID-19 patients infected with either the wild-type, Omicron variant or pre- Omicron variants (e.g., Alpha, Beta, Delta). Results: A total of 432 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 inpatients were dialogized during three waves, including 247 cases during the wild-type transmission period, 65 cases during the transmission period of pre-Omicron variants, and 119 cases during the transmission period of Omicron variants. The proportion of moderately or severely ill inpatients showed a gradual decline from the wild-type transmission period to the Omicron transmission period. The common symptoms of inpatients infected with SARS-CoV-2 wildtype strains included fever (67.61 %), cough (57.89 %), fatigue (33.60 %), and shortness of breath (12.15 %). In contrast, patients infected with other variants mostly showed upper respiratory symptoms. Based on chest CT images, a lower degree of acute pulmonary infection was observed among inpatients infected with the Omicron variants than those infected with the wild-type strain (31.09 % vs 93.12 %, p-value<0.01). Conclusions: Compared with the wild-type strain, SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, especially the Omicron variant, mostly caused a lower degree of acute pulmonary infection, indicating the reduced disease severity and mortality among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
