Clinical and radiological characteristics of COVID‑19 patients without comorbidities: A single-center study

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the clinical characteristics and detailed imaging features in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients without comorbidities. Material and methods: This retrospective study included laboratory-confirmed and symptomatic COVID-19 patients without comorbid diseases who were admitted to our second level hospital between March 2020 and September 2020. We assessed the clinical, biochemical and imaging diagnostic parameters on admission. The patients were classified as non-severe and progress to severe group and then the initial parameters were compared. Results: We enrolled 135 adult COVID-19 patients, 12 progressed to severe disease during hospitalization. Compared to the non-severe group, patients who progressed to severe were older (p < 0.001) and were more likely to manifest coughing (p = 0.011) and have higher lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels (p = 0.011). On chest computed tomography (CT) images, multilobar (p = 0.016), peripherally (p = 0.001) distributed mixed ground glass opacities and consolidation (p < 0.001), crazy paving (p = 0.007) and higher total CT severity score (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with severe disease. Conclusion: Knowledge of the clinical and radiological parameters associated with disease severity might be useful to guide clinical decision-making for COVID-19 patients without comorbidities.