Abstract: Objective To describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 74 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in our hospital. Methods A retrospective, single-center case series analysis included 74 consecutive hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 at Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, from January 21 to February 11, 2020. The final date of follow-up was February 17, 2020. The data of epidemiology, demographics, clinic, laboratory test, radiological examination, treatment, and complications were collected and analyzed.Outcomes of critically ill patients and noncritically ill patients were compared. Results Of 74 patients with COVID-19, the average age was (52.7±19.1) years, the minimum age 1 year old and the maximum age 94 years old. Thirty five were male. According to the severity of the disease at the time of admission, there were 56 cases of common type, 9 cases of severe type and 9 cases of critical severe type.The average time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis was (5.1±2.8) days. There were 39 cases (47.3%) who had lived in the epidemic area of Hubei Province, 48 cases(64.9%) who had clustered onset. The common symptoms included fever 67 (90.5%), dry cough 20 (27%) and dyspnea 17(23.0%). The average time from first symptom to acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS) was (9.3±3.8) days, and to Intensive Care Unit(ICU) admission was (10.5±4.7) days. Forty two patients (56.8%) had lymphocytopenia and 35 patients (47.3%) had leukopenia. Twenty seven patients(36.5%) had elevated alanine aminotransferase, 7 patients (9.5%) had elevated creatine kinase;12 patients(16.2%) had elevated myoglobin. Compared with the common patients, the lymphocyte decreased more significantly in the severe and critical severe patients. The chest computed tomographic scans showed bilateral patchy shadows or ground glass opacity in the lungs of all patients. Among all the 74 patients, 23 (31.1%), 17 (23%), 2 (2.7%) and 6 (8.1%) received low flow oxygen inhalation, high flow oxygen inhalation, non-invasive positive pressure ventilation and invasive positive pressure ventilation, and 1 critically ill patient received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Twenty one (28.4%) patients received antiviral therapy, and 16 (21.6%) patients received glucocorticoid therapy. Of the 74 patients, 7 (9.5%) were complicated with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), 5 (6.8%) with shock, 11 (14.9%) were admitted to ICU, 55 (74.3%) were cured and discharged, and the average hospital stay was (12.3±4.4) days. Conclusion Most of the COVID-19 were clustered, and a few patients progressed rapidly with ARDS. Old age and basic diseases may be the risk factors of poor prognosis.

Key words: coronavirus, COVID-19, epidemiological, clinical characteristics