Abstract
Background: On 29th December 2019, a cluster of cases displaying the symptoms of a “pneumonia of unknown cause” was identified in Wuhan, Hubei province of China. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to review the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 cases in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: The search strategy involved peer-reviewed studies published between 1st January and 11th February 2020 in Pubmed, Google scholar and China Knowledge Resource Integrated database. Publications identified were screened for their title and abstracts according to the eligibility criteria, and further shortlisted by full-text screening. Three independent reviewers extracted data from these studies, and studies were assessed for potential risk of bias. Studies comprising non-overlapping patient populations, were included for qualitative and quantitative synthesis of results. Pooled prevalence with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for patient characteristics.Results: A total of 29 publications were selected after full-text review. This comprised of 18 case reports, three case series and eight cross-sectional studies on patients admitted from mid-December of 2019 to early February of 2020. A total of 533 adult patients with pooled median age of 56 (95% CI: 49–57) and a pooled prevalence of male of 60% (95% CI: 52–68%) were admitted to hospital at a pooled median of 7 days (95% CI: 7–7) post-onset of symptoms. The most common symptoms at admission were fever, cough and fatigue, with a pooled prevalence of 90% (95% CI: 81–97%), 58% (95% CI: 47–68%), and 50% (95% CI: 29–71%), respectively. Myalgia, shortness of breath, headache, diarrhea and sore throat were less common with pooled prevalence of 27% (95% CI: 20–36%), 25% (95% CI: 15–35%), 10% (95% CI: 7–13%), 8% (95% CI: 5–13%), and 7% (95% CI: 1–15%), respectively. ICU patients had a higher proportion of shortness of breath at presentation, as well as pre-existing hypertension, cardiovascular disease and COPD, compared to non-ICU patients in 2 studies (n = 179).Conclusion: This study highlights the key epidemiological and clinical features of COVID-19 cases during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
On 29th December 2019, a cluster of cases displaying the symptoms of a “pneumonia of unknown cause” was identified in Wuhan, Hubei province, China [1]
Studies have shown that the novel pathogen bears similarity to two other global threats, SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), as it belongs to the same family of viruses [4, 5]
A systematic search was conducted with three databases— Pubmed, Google Scholar and China Knowledge Resource Integrated (CNKI) database according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)
Summary
On 29th December 2019, a cluster of cases displaying the symptoms of a “pneumonia of unknown cause” was identified in Wuhan, Hubei province, China [1]. The Novel Coronavirus Research Team in China identified and characterized the causal pathogen, which was named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) [4]. SARS-CoV-2 shares 79% sequence identity with SARS-CoV and 50% with MERS-CoV [6]. This resemblance has key implications on how COVID-19 manifests in affected individuals, and experience with MERS and SARS can help guide researchers and authorities in tackling COVID-19 [7]. On 29th December 2019, a cluster of cases displaying the symptoms of a “pneumonia of unknown cause” was identified in Wuhan, Hubei province of China. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to review the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 cases in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic
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