Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 3334 cases with prediagnosis coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in Turkey

Aim This study aims to analyse the epidemiological and clinical features of the patients admitted to the hospital with the prediagnosis of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) in Turkey. Materials and methods In this retrospective study, epidemiological and clinical features, laboratory markers, radiological features, therapeutic approaches, and survival conditions of the patients with the prediagnosis of COVID-19 from March 11th to June 30th, 2020 have been analysed and reported. The data of the cases were divided into four groups and then compared with each other: first group includes confirmed cases with positive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and chest computed tomography (CT) imaging results considered as COVID-19 lung involvement, second group includes the clinically diagnosed cases with negative RT-PCR and positive CT imaging abnormalities, third group includes mild and asymptomatic cases with positive RT-PCR and negative CT findings, fourth group includes suspected cases with negative RT-PCR and negative CT findings. Post-hoc analysis was performed to evaluate the differences among the groups. Results In total, 3334 patients with the prediagnosis of COVID-19 admitted to the emergency department. Based on the post hoc analyses, significant differences were found among the four groups in terms of their test results of leukocytes, haemoglobin, platelet, neutrophils, urea and C-reactive protein (CRP) (P < .001). Furthermore, the factors of age groups, hospitalisation, intensive care unit follow-up and mortality rate of the four groups showed a significant difference among the groups (P = .001). Conclusion The mean leukocytes, neutrophils and platelet counts of patients with positive RT-PCR were found to be lower than the ones with negative RT-PCR. The mean serum levels of CRP were found to be higher in patients with lung involvement compared with other patient groups.