Association between incubation period and clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19.

To investigate associations between the clinical characteristics and incubation periods of patients infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China. Complete clinical and epidemiological data from 149 patients with COVID-19 at a hospital in Hunan Province, China, were collected and retrospectively analyzed. Analysis of the distribution and receiver operator characteristic curve of incubation periods showed that 7 days was the optimal cut-off value to assess differences in disease severity between groups. Patients with shorter (≤7 days) incubation periods (n = 79) had more severe disease, longer durations of hospitalization, longer times from symptom onset to discharge, more abnormal laboratory findings, and more severe radiological findings than patients with longer (>7 days) incubation periods. Regression and correlation analyses also showed that a shorter incubation period was associated with longer times from symptom onset to discharge. The associations between the incubation periods and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients suggest that the incubation period may be a useful marker of disease severity and prognosis.

Citation

Yeyu Cai, Jiayi Liu, Haitao Yang, Mian Wang, Qingping Guo, Deng Huang, Qizhi Yu, Enhua Xiao. Association between incubation period and clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19. The Journal of international medical research. 2020 Sep;48(9):300060520956834

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PMID: 32967488

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