Clinical characteristics of 78 cases of patients infected with coronavirus disease 2019 in Wuhan, China

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan and rapidly spread throughout the world in December 2019 The present study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of 78 patients with COVID-19 in order to enhance the understanding of the disease Medical records and data of 78 patients with COVID-19, including demographics, clinical features, laboratory findings and radiological characteristics, were collected and analyzed Of the 78 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, the median age was 66 5 years and 48 7% of patients were male Hypertension and diabetes were the most common chronic underlying diseases, and the most common symptoms were a cough and a fever Furthermore, the most common findings on the chest CT were extensive ground-glass opacity and bilateral shadowing Anemia and lymphocytopenia were the most common abnormalities identified during routine blood tests COVID-19 caused early liver renal damage, with 52 9% of patients displaying elevated D-dimer levels, 98 7% of patients displaying elevated IL-6 levels and 80 8% of patients displaying a reduced level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) In the present single-center case study of 78 patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, the patients displayed abnormal routine blood tests, liver function, renal function and levels of D-dimer, LDL-C and IL-6 Therefore, the development of drugs and vaccines that can be used to prevent and treat infections of COVID-19 is urgently required