Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2020 | Computed Tomography | Research article
Maximum chest CT score is associated with progression to severe illness in patients with COVID-19: a retrospective study from Wuhan, China
Published in: BMC Infectious Diseases | Issue 1/2020
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Background
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a world-wide health crisis. Limited information is available regarding which patients will experience more severe disease symptoms. We evaluated hospitalized patients who were initially diagnosed with moderate COVID-19 for clinical parameters and radiological feature that showed an association with progression to severe/critical symptoms.
Methods
This study, a retrospective single-center study at the Central Hospital of Wuhan, enrolled 243 patients with confirmed COVID19 pneumonia. Forty of these patients progressed from moderate to severe/critical symptoms during follow up. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and radiological data were extracted from electronic medical records and compared between moderate- and severe/critical-type symptoms. Univariable and multivariable logistic regressions were used to identify the risk factors associated with symptom progression.
Results
Patients with severe/critical symptoms were older (p < 0.001) and more often male (p = 0.046). A combination of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and high maximum chest computed tomography (CT) score was associated with disease progression. Maximum CT score (> 11) had the greatest predictive value for disease progression. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.861 (95% confidence interval: 0.811–0.902).
Conclusions
Maximum CT score and COPD were associated with patient deterioration. Maximum CT score (> 11) was associated with severe illness.