Abstract:

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of the imported patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods The clinical data, including the epidemiologic features, clinical symptoms, laboratory examinations, imaging manifestations and treatment outcomes of the 23 imported patients with COVID-19 admitted to the designated hospital in Fuzhou of Fujian from March 1st, 2020 to May 31th, 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Results The median age of the patients was 44 years with the age range of 7 to 69 years and 47.8% (11/23) of the patients were female. The median incubation period was 7 days. 43.5% (10/23) of the patients had underlying diseases and the most common ones were diabetes (13.0%, 3/23) and hypertension (13.0%, 3/23). The most common symptoms were fever (69.6%, 16/23), cough (52.2%, 12/23) and expectoration (39.1%, 9/23). 8.7% (2/23) of the patients had smell and taste impairments. The 23 cases consisted of 18 moderate patients and 5 severe patients without mild and critically patients. Among the 23 cases, leukopenia and lymphopenia occurred in 5 cases (21.7%) and 12 cases (52.2%), respectively. Elevated CRP and IL-6 were found in 7 (30.4%) and 11 (47.8%), respectively. T lymphocyte subsets were detected in 21 cases. CD3⁺ T lymphocytes decreased in 33.3% (7/21) of the patients, CD4⁺ T lymphocytes decreased in 38.1% (8/21) and CD8⁺ T lymphocytes in 33.3% (7/21), respectively. The median times from onset to positive results of serum novel coronavirus IgM and IgG antibodies were 7 days and 13 days, respectively. All the cases had abnormalities on chest CT, including patchy consolidation (52.2%, 12/23), ground glass opacity (65.2%, 15/23), nodular shadow (43.5%, 10/23) and fibrous stripe shadow (43.5%, 10/23), and pleural effusion (4.3%, 1/23) was extremely rare. All the patients received antiviral treatment, among whom one received glucocorticoid (methylprednisolone) therapy and 3 cases were treated with convalescent plasma of COVID-19 patients. All patients were discharged without death. Follow-up chest CT showed that most of the patients (82.6%, 19/23) had mild residual lung lesions which gradually improved with sustained absorption. Conclusion Imported patients with COVID-19 are relatively young and have a longer incubation period. Some patients may develop abnormalities of smell and taste. There is a delay in the emergence of novel coronavirus specific antibodies. The condition of patients is relatively mild, and the patients recovered well after timely diagnosis and treatment.

Key words: COVID-19, Diagnosis, Tomography,X-ray computed, Treatment outcome, Data interpretation,statistical