In:
BMC Infectious Diseases, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Vol. 21, No. 1 ( 2021-12)
Abstract:
To investigate the CT imaging and clinical features of three atypical presentations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), namely (1) asymptomatic, (2) CT imaging-negative, and (3) re-detectable positive (RP), during all disease stages. Methods A consecutive cohort of 79 COVID-19 patients was retrospectively recruited from five independent institutions. For each presentation type, all patients were classified into atypical vs. typical groups (i.e., asymptomatic vs.symptomatic, CT imaging-negative vs. CT imaging-positive, and RP and non-RP,respectively). The chi-square test, Student’s t test, and Kruskal-Wallis H test were performed to compare CT imaging and clinical features of atypical vs. typical patients for all three presentation categories. Results In our COVID-19 cohort, we found 12.7% asymptomatic patients, 13.9% CT imaging-negative patients, and 8.9% RP patients. The asymptomatic patients had fewer hospitalization days ( P =0.043), lower total scores for bilateral lung involvement ( P 〈 0.001), and fewer ground-glass opacities (GGOs) in the peripheral area ( P 〈 0.001) than symptomatic patients. The CT imaging-negative patients were younger ( P =0.002), had a higher lymphocyte count ( P =0.038), had a higher lymphocyte rate ( P =0.008), and had more asymptomatic infections ( P =0.002) than the CT imaging-positive patients. The RP patients with moderate COVID-19 had lower total scores of for bilateral lung involvement ( P =0.030) and a smaller portion of the left lung affected ( P =0.024) than non-RP patients. Compared to their first hospitalization, RP patients had a shorter hospitalization period ( P 〈 0.001) and fewer days from the onset of illness to last RNA negative conversion ( P 〈 0.001) at readmission. Conclusions Significant CT imaging and clinical feature differences were found between atypical and typical COVID-19 patients for all three atypical presentation categories investigated in this study, which may help provide complementary information for the effective management of COVID-19.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1471-2334
DOI:
10.1186/s12879-020-05751-8
Language:
English
Publisher:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication Date:
2021
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2041550-3
Permalink