Respiratory Research (Nov 2022)

Impact of upper and lower respiratory symptoms on COVID-19 outcomes: a multicenter retrospective cohort study

  • Kensuke Nakagawara,
  • Shotaro Chubachi,
  • Ho Namkoong,
  • Hiromu Tanaka,
  • Ho Lee,
  • Shuhei Azekawa,
  • Shiro Otake,
  • Takahiro Fukushima,
  • Atsuho Morita,
  • Mayuko Watase,
  • Kaori Sakurai,
  • Tatsuya Kusumoto,
  • Takanori Asakura,
  • Katsunori Masaki,
  • Hirofumi Kamata,
  • Makoto Ishii,
  • Naoki Hasegawa,
  • Norihiro Harada,
  • Tetsuya Ueda,
  • Soichiro Ueda,
  • Takashi Ishiguro,
  • Ken Arimura,
  • Fukuki Saito,
  • Takashi Yoshiyama,
  • Yasushi Nakano,
  • Yoshikazu Mutoh,
  • Yusuke Suzuki,
  • Ryuya Edahiro,
  • Koji Murakami,
  • Yasunori Sato,
  • Yukinori Okada,
  • Ryuji Koike,
  • Yuko Kitagawa,
  • Katsushi Tokunaga,
  • Akinori Kimura,
  • Seiya Imoto,
  • Satoru Miyano,
  • Seishi Ogawa,
  • Takanori Kanai,
  • Koichi Fukunaga

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-022-02222-3
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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Abstract Background Respiratory symptoms are associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes. However, the impacts of upper and lower respiratory symptoms on COVID-19 outcomes in the same population have not been compared. The objective of this study was to characterize upper and lower respiratory symptoms and compare their impacts on outcomes of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods This was a multicenter, retrospective cohort study; the database from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force was used. A total of 3314 COVID-19 patients were included in the study, and the data on respiratory symptoms were collected. The participants were classified according to their respiratory symptoms (Group 1: no respiratory symptoms, Group 2: only upper respiratory symptoms, Group 3: only lower respiratory symptoms, and Group 4: both upper and lower respiratory symptoms). The impacts of upper and lower respiratory symptoms on the clinical outcomes were compared. The primary outcome was the percentage of patients with poor clinical outcomes, including the need for oxygen supplementation via high-flow oxygen therapy, mechanical ventilation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or death. Results Of the 3314 COVID-19 patients, 605, 1331, 1229, and 1149 were classified as Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, and Group 4, respectively. In univariate analysis, patients in Group 2 had the best clinical outcomes among all groups (odds ratio [OR]: 0.21, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.11–0.39), while patients in Group 3 had the worst outcomes (OR: 3.27, 95% CI: 2.43–4.40). Group 3 patients had the highest incidence of pneumonia, other complications due to secondary infections, and thrombosis during the clinical course. Conclusions Upper and lower respiratory tract symptoms had vastly different impacts on the clinical outcomes of COVID-19.

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