TY - JOUR AU - Gao, Xuesong AU - Yang, Di AU - Yuan, Zheng AU - Zhang, Yijin AU - Li, Hongjie AU - Gao, Ping AU - Liu, Xiaomin AU - Zhao, Wenshan AU - Xiao, Te AU - Guan, Yanlin AU - Gao, Guiju AU - Duan, Xuefei PY - 2020/06/30 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Improving the early diagnosis of suspected patients with COVID-19: a retrospective study of 106 patients JF - The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries JA - J Infect Dev Ctries VL - 14 IS - 06 SE - Coronavirus Pandemic DO - 10.3855/jidc.12992 UR - https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/32683343 SP - 547-553 AB - <p>Introduction: An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. This study aimed to analyze the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of patients with COVID-19 to better differentiate the suspected patients in Beijing, China.</p><p>Methodology: This was a retrospective, single-center study. Clinical and epidemiologic data were collected from suspected patients with COVID-19 admitted to Beijing Ditan Hospital from January 29 to February 21, 2020.</p><p>Results: One hundred and six patients (60 males and 46 females, median age 36 years) were enrolled. Thirty-six patients were ultimately laboratory confirmed. Fifty-three were excluded from the diagnosis of COVID-19. The remaining 17 patients were highly suspected, although their nucleic acid tests were repeatedly negative. The confirmed patients and highly suspected patients had a significantly higher proportion of epidemiologic history than the excluded patients (P &lt; 0.001). There was no significant difference in clinical symptoms or the underlying diseases among the three groups. The confirmed patients had a higher frequency of lymphopenia and eosinopenia than the highly suspected and excluded patients. Chest computed tomography scans showed bilateral lung involvement, and ground-glass opacity was more likely observed in the confirmed patients.</p><p>Conclusion: The clinical features of the confirmed patients with COVID-19 were insufficient for early diagnosis of COVID-19. The epidemiologic history was of great significance in the early diagnosis of COVID-19. More sensitive diagnostic methods are needed to aid the differential diagnosis of suspected patients with COVID-19.</p> ER -