Clinical, Laboratory, and Chest CT Features of Dead versus Recovered Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Patients: A Multicenter Study

Abstract

Background: The current study was carried out to analyze the clinical, laboratory, and computed tomography (CT) findings obtained from both groups of patients, i.e., those who died or recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Methods: This cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted on 71 adult patients with COVID-19 who had been discharged or died. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and CT features were obtained from electronic medical records and compared between deceased and survived patients.Results: Seventy-one patients (40 men, 31 women, 23–98 years) were included in the study. The mean age of deceased patients (70.77±17.36 years) was significantly higher than recovered ones (49.68±16.25 years) (P<0.001). Cough and neurological signs (a lateralizing sign of focal neurological insult) were shown to be significantly different between survived and non-survived groups (P=0.008 and P<0.001, respectively). Leukocytosis was present in 15 (41.7%) patients who died and 5 (14.3%) patients who were discharged (P=0.01). Hemoglobin and O2 saturation were significantly lower in patients who died than in recovered ones (P<0.001 and P=0.001, respectively). A significantly higher level of CRP was found in deceased infected patients compared to recovered ones (P=0.001). Crazy-paving pattern and consolidation were significantly higher in patients who died than in recovered subjects (P<0.001).Conclusion: Patients’ manifestations on admission, such as older age, cough, leukocytosis, low levels of hemoglobin and O2 saturation, as well as the occurrence of crazy-paving patterns and consolidation, were predictive of poor outcomes.

Keywords

• computed tomography
• covid-19
• pneumonia
• sars-cov-2