Demographic, signs and symptoms, imaging characteristics of 2126 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in the whole quarantine of Wuhan, China

ABSTR A C T Objective: The accurate knowledge of demographic, signs and symptoms, imaging characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is essential for the accurate management of these patients. However, the claims be-tween the previous papers are not always consistent and may even contradict each other, for example, some claims the virus infects more men than women in Wuhan. In this large-scale cohort study, we aimed to update the demographic, signs and symptoms, imaging characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in the whole quarantine of Wuhan, China. Methods: A cohort of 2126 patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia (confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, RT-PCR) who were admitted to one hospital in Wuhan were retro-spectively enrolled. Data were collected between January 13, 2020, and April 8, 2020, the end of Wuhan quarantine. Demographic, signs and symptoms, imaging characteristics were analyzed. CT imaging character-istics associated with respiratory failure or death were identified. Results: Of the 2126 patients with COVID-19, 1051 (49.44%) were men and 1075 (50.56%) were women, 1933 (90.92%) have fever and 1328 (62.46%) have dry cough. The mean age was 57.43 years of age (range 1-95). The CT imaging findings were bilateral pneumonia (1883[88.57%]), unilateral pneumonia (243[11.43%]), ground-glass opacity (GGO) or consolidation (1175[55.27%]), pleural effusion (69[3.25%]). Patients with respiratory failure or death were more likely to have pleural effusion on CT than patients without respiratory failure or death (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Men and women have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 in roughly equal numbers. Fever and cough are the most prevalent symptoms at disease onset in patients. Other prevalent symptoms include fatigue, and sputum production. COVID-19 patients with bilateral pneumonia and pleural effusion are more likely to develop res-piratory failure or death.