| Objective To improve the understanding of clinical characteristics and early outcome of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Methods The medical information of 79 COVID-19 discharged patients with complete data and the follow-up data of 43 patients at 3 months after discharge were retrospectively analyzed. All the patients were diagnosed with confirmed COVID-19 by nucleic acid test and were treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College from January 25, 2020 to March 4, 2020. Results Among 79 patients with COVID-19, there were 45 severe patients (severe group) and 34 mild patients (common group). Compared with the common group, the mean age was higher, and the proportion of patients with hypertension, diabetes or more than one underlying disease was higher in the severe group (P＜0.05). In the severe group, the proportion of patients with chest distress, shortness of breath, dyspnea, and bilateral lung lesions in more than 3 lobes was higher than that in the common group (P＜0.05). The levels of lymphocyte count in patients with severe COVID-19 were lower than those in mild patients, while the levels of neutrophil count, platelet, D-dimer, blood glucose, lactate dehydrogenase, cardiac troponin I, C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 in patients with severe COVID-19 were significantly higher than those in mild patients (P＜0.05). Among 43 follow-up patients, 2 cases (8.0%) of severe COVID-19 occasionally had chest tightness, 1 case (4.0%) had dysosmia, and other cases had no discomfort. Compared with the good imaging absorption group, the proportion of severe patients in the poor absorption group was higher (P＜0.05). Conclusions The clinical characteristics of severe COVID-19 patients are specific. We should pay more attention to the patients with older age, underlying diseases and other severe features. Clinical observation and dynamic assessment should be emphasized to discover clinically potential adverse events. The convalescent patients with COVID-19 in this region have no obvious clinical sequelae symptoms in the early stage, and the severe patients should strengthen the follow-up, who are the population of great interest. |