Clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients in Xiaogan, China: comparison between recent imported cases and earlier local cases

Object: In this study, we aim to investigate if there exists some change in the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 by comparing the clinical characteristics between recent imported patients and earlier local patients. Methods: 227 local COVID-19 patients diagnosed before February 15, 2020 (local group) and 23 imported COVID-19 patients diagnosed between July 1, 2020, and January 15, 2021 (imported group) were included in this study. Baseline characteristics and characteristics of computed tomography (CT), routine blood test, liver functions, and infectious markers upon admission were collected and compared. Results: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) of the imported group was 3.21 +/- 1.25, which was significantly higher than that of the local group (2.55 +/- 1.19) with a P-value of 0.030. The concentration of C-reactive protein of the imported group was 12.34 +/- 5.25, which was significantly higher than that of the local group (7.76 +/- 6.54 mg/L) with a P-value of 0.0005. No significant difference was observed in the rest characteristics. Conclusion: The recent imported cases had higher NLR and C-reactive protein levels than the earlier local cases, indicating that the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 is getting worse during the pandemic.