Abstract
Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a major threat to global health. Regional differences in epidemiological and clinical characteristics, treatment and outcomes of patients have not yet been investigated. This study was conducted to investigate these differences amongCOVID-19 patients in Hubei Province, China.Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study analyzed data on 289 COVID-19 patients from designated hospitals in three regions:Urban (Wuhan Union West Hospital), Suburban areas of Wuhan (Hannan Hospital) and Enshi city, between February 8 and 20, 2020. The final date of follow-up was December 14th, 2020. The outcomes were case fatality rate and epidemiological and clinical data.Results: Urban Wuhan experienced a significantly higher case fatality rate (21.5%) than suburban Wuhan (5.23%) and rural area of Enshi (3.51%). Urban Wuhan had a higher proportion of patients on mechanical ventilation (24.05%) than suburban Wuhan (0%) and rural Enshi (3.57%). Treatment with glucocorticoids was equivalent in urban and suburban Wuhan (46.84 and 45.75%, respectively) and higher than Enshi (25.00%). Urban Wuhan had a higher proportion of patients with abnormal tests including liver function and serum electrolytes and a higher rate of pneumonia (p < 0.01 for all). Urban Wuhan also had a higher incidence of respiratory failure, heart disease, liver disease and shock, compared with the other two regions (all p < 0.05).Conclusions: Our findings revealed that there are regional differences in COVID-19. These findings provide novel insights into the distribution of appropriate resources for the prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19 for the global community.
Highlights
COVID-19 is a newly recognized infectious outbreak first reported in Wuhan, Hubei province in south central China
These findings provide novel insights into the distribution of appropriate resources for the prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19 for the global community
Differences in epidemiological and clinical characteristics, treatment and outcomes were found to be associated with the different regions in Hubei Province
Summary
COVID-19 is a newly recognized infectious outbreak first reported in Wuhan, Hubei province in south central China. While the majority of cases in China were confined in Hubei province, the virus has since spread globally, leading to the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020 [1, 2]. COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the globe and is highly contagious, affecting all populations, punctuated by family clusters and hospital outbreaks. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a major threat to global health. Regional differences in epidemiological and clinical characteristics, treatment and outcomes of patients have not yet been investigated. This study was conducted to investigate these differences amongCOVID-19 patients in Hubei Province, China
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