Epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of 3334 cases with
pre-diagnosis coronavirus disease - 2019 (COVID-19) in Turkey
Abstract
Introduction: As COVID-19 disease has rapidly spread across the world,
its impact has grown with increasing number of cases and mortality rate
in Turkey. Aim: The aim of this study is to examine epidemiologic and
clinical features of the patients that admitted to the hospital with the
pre-diagnosis of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in Turkey. Method:
In this retrospective study, epidemiologic and clinical features,
laboratory findings, radiologic features, therapeutic approaches and
survival conditions of the patients with the pre-diagnosis of COVID-19
from March 11th to June 30th, 2020. The all data of the cases were
compared in 4 groups: 1st group for the confirmed cases reverse
transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) +, chest computed
tomography (CT) +, 2nd group for the clinically diagnosed cases (RT-PCR-
CT +), 3rd group for the mild and asymptomatic cases (RT-PCR + CT-), 4th
group for the suspected cases (RT-PCR - CT -). Post-hoc analysis was
performed to evaluate the differences among the groups. Results: In
total, 3334 patients with the pre-diagnosis of COVID-19 admitted to the
emergency department. Based on the post-hoc analyses, significant
differences were found among the four groups in terms of their test
results of leucocytes, hemoglobin, platelets, neutrophils, urea and
C-reactive protein (CRP) (p<0.001). Furthermore, the factors
of age groups, hospitalization, intensive care follow-up and mortality
rate of the four groups showed a significant difference among the groups
(p=0.001). Conclusion: Mean of leucocytes, neutrophile and platelet
values of the patients with tested positive for the RT-PCR was found
lower compared to the ones with tested negative for the RT-PCR. Mean of
CRP values was found higher in patients with lung involvement compared
to other patient groups.