Profile of coronavirus disease enlightened asthma as a protective factor against death: An epidemiology study from Brazil during the pandemic

Summary Background In December, 2019, a pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) emerged in Wuhan, China. We aimed to further clarify the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 2019-nCoV pneumonia. Methods In this retrospective, single-centre study, we included all confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV in Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital from Jan 1 to Jan 20, 2020. Cases were confirmed by real-time RT-PCR and were analysed for epidemiological, demographic, clinical, and radiological features and laboratory data. Outcomes were followed up until Jan 25, 2020. Findings Of the 99 patients with 2019-nCoV pneumonia, 49 (49%) had a history of exposure to the Huanan seafood market. The average age of the patients was 55·5 years (SD 13·1), including 67 men and 32 women. 2019-nCoV was detected in all patients by real-time RT-PCR. 50 (51%) patients had chronic diseases. Patients had clinical manifestations of fever (82 [83%] patients), cough (81 [82%] patients), shortness of breath (31 [31%] patients), muscle ache (11 [11%] patients), confusion (nine [9%] patients), headache (eight [8%] patients), sore throat (five [5%] patients), rhinorrhoea (four [4%] patients), chest pain (two [2%] patients), diarrhoea (two [2%] patients), and nausea and vomiting (one [1%] patient). According to imaging examination, 74 (75%) patients showed bilateral pneumonia, 14 (14%) patients showed multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity, and one (1%) patient had pneumothorax. 17 (17%) patients developed acute respiratory distress syndrome and, among them, 11 (11%) patients worsened in a short period of time and died of multiple organ failure. Interpretation The 2019-nCoV infection was of clustering onset, is more likely to affect older males with comorbidities, and can result in severe and even fatal respiratory diseases such as acute respiratory distress syndrome. In general, characteristics of patients who died were in line with the MuLBSTA score, an early warning model for predicting mortality in viral pneumonia. Further investigation is needed to explore the applicability of the MuLBSTA score in predicting the risk of mortality in 2019-nCoV infection. Funding National Key R&D Program of China.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has been widely spread. We aim to investigate the clinical characteristic and allergy status of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.

To the Editor: The world is in the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, 1,2 and New York City has emerged as an epicenter. Here, we characterize the first 393 consecutive patients with Covid-19 who were admitted to two hospitals in New York City. This retrospective case series includes adults 18 years of age or older with confirmed Covid-19 who were consecutively admitted between March 3 (date of the first positive case) and March 27, 2020, at an 862-bed quaternary referral center and an affiliated 180-bed nonteaching community hospital in Manhattan. Both hospitals adopted an early-intubation strategy with limited use of high-flow nasal cannulae during this period. Cases were confirmed through reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction assays performed on nasopharyngeal swab specimens. Data were manually abstracted from electronic health records with the use of a quality-controlled protocol and structured abstraction tool (details are provided in the Methods section in the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org). Among the 393 patients, the median age was 62.2 years, 60.6% were male, and 35.8% had obesity (Table 1). The most common presenting symptoms were cough (79.4%), fever (77.1%), dyspnea (56.5%), myalgias (23.8%), diarrhea (23.7%), and nausea and vomiting (19.1%) (Table S1 in the Supplementary Appendix). Most of the patients (90.0%) had lymphopenia, 27% had thrombocytopenia, and many had elevated liver-function values and inflammatory markers. Between March 3 and April 10, respiratory failure leading to invasive mechanical ventilation developed in 130 patients (33.1%); to date, only 43 of these patients (33.1%) have been extubated. In total, 40 of the patients (10.2%) have died, and 260 (66.2%) have been discharged from the hospital; outcome data are incomplete for the remaining 93 patients (23.7%). Patients who received invasive mechanical ventilation were more likely to be male, to have obesity, and to have elevated liver-function values and inflammatory markers (ferritin, d-dimer, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin) than were patients who did not receive invasive mechanical ventilation. Of the patients who received invasive mechanical ventilation, 40 (30.8%) did not need supplemental oxygen during the first 3 hours after presenting to the emergency department. Patients who received invasive mechanical ventilation were more likely to need vasopressor support (95.4% vs. 1.5%) and to have other complications, including atrial arrhythmias (17.7% vs. 1.9%) and new renal replacement therapy (13.3% vs. 0.4%). Among these 393 patients with Covid-19 who were hospitalized in two New York City hospitals, the manifestations of the disease at presentation were generally similar to those in a large case series from China 1 ; however, gastrointestinal symptoms appeared to be more common than in China (where these symptoms occurred in 4 to 5% of patients). This difference could reflect geographic variation or differential reporting. Obesity was common and may be a risk factor for respiratory failure leading to invasive mechanical ventilation. 3 The percentage of patients in our case series who received invasive mechanical ventilation was more than 10 times as high as that in China; potential contributors include the more severe disease in our cohort (since testing and hospitalization in the United States is largely limited to patients with more severe disease) and the early-intubation strategy used in our hospitals. Regardless, the high demand for invasive mechanical ventilation has the potential to overwhelm hospital resources. Deterioration occurred in many patients whose condition had previously been stable; almost a third of patients who received invasive mechanical ventilation did not need supplemental oxygen at presentation. The observations that the patients who received invasive mechanical ventilation almost universally received vasopressor support and that many also received new renal replacement therapy suggest that there is also a need to strengthen stockpiles and supply chains for these resources.