Clinical and Paraclinical Characteristics of COVID-19 patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

  • Keyvan Heydari Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
  • Parisa Lotfi Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
  • Nima Shadmehri Science Department, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
  • Mohammad Yousefi Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
  • Maedeh Raei School of Medicine, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran
  • Pouya Houshmand School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
  • Mohammad Zahedi Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, School of Allied Medical Science, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
  • Reza Alizadeh-Navaei Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Center, Non-communicable diseases institute, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
  • Sahar Bathaeian Influenza Research Lab, Department of Virology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
  • Sahar Rismantab Ramsar Campus, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Ramsar, Iran.
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Coronaviridae, Clinical Manifestation

Abstract

Introduction: Recently, a new strain of coronaviruses, which originated from Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China has been identified. According to the high prevalence of new coronavirus, further investigation on the clinical and paraclinical features of this disease seems essential. Hence, we carried out this systematic review and meta-analysis to figure out the unknown features.

Methods:  This study was performed using databases of Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed. We considered English cross-sectional and case-series papers which reported clinical, radiological, and laboratory characteristics of patients with COVID-19. We used STATA v.11 and random effect model for data analysis.

Results: In the present meta-analysis, 32 papers including 49504 COVID-19 patients were studied. The most common clinical symptoms were fever (84%), cough (65%) and fatigue (42%), respectively. The most common radiological and paraclinical features were bilateral pneumonia (61%), ground-glass opacity (50%), thrombocytopenia (36%) and lymphocytopenia (34%). The study also showed that the frequency of comorbidities and early symptoms was higher in critically severe patients. Moreover, we found the overall mortality rate of three percent.

Conclusion: According to that there are many cases without Computed Tomography Scan findings or clear clinical symptoms, it is recommended to use other confirming methods such RNA sequencing in order to identification of suspicious undiagnosed patients. Moreover, while there is no access to clinical and paraclinical facilities in in public places such as airports and border crossings, it is recommended to consider factors such as fever, cough, sputum and fatigue.

Published
2022-02-21
Section
Articles