Imaging and clinical features of patients with 2019 novel coronavirus SARS‐CoV‐2: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Background Currently, the epidemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has begun to spread worldwide. We aim to explore reliable evidences for the diagnosis and treatment of the COVID‐19 by analyzing all the published studies by Chinese scholars on the clinical and imaging features in novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) caused by SARS‐CoV‐2. Methods We searched five medical databases including two Chinese and three English databases for all published articles on COVID‐19 since the outbreak. A random‐effects model was designed, and the imaging and clinical data from all studies were collected for meta‐analysis. Results Overall, 31 articles and 46959 patients were included, including 10 English articles, 21 Chinese articles. The results of meta‐analysis showed that the most common clinical manifestations were fever (87.3%, 0.838‐0.909), cough (58.1%, 0.502‐0.660), dyspnea (38.3%, 0.246‐0.520), muscle soreness or fatigue (35.5%, 0.253‐0.456), chest distress (31.2%, ‐0.024‐0.648). The main imaging finding were bilateral pneumonia (75.7%, 0.639‐0.871), and ground glass opacification (69.9%, 0.602‐0.796). Among the patients, the incidence of required intensive care unit (ICU) was (29.3%, 0.190‐0.395), the incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was (28.8%, 0.147‐0.429), the multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) was (8.5%, ‐0.008‐0.179), and and the case fatality rate of patients with COVID‐19 was (6.8%, 0.044‐0.093). Conclusion COVID‐19 is a new clinical infectious disease, which mainly causes bilateral pneumonia, and lung function will deteriorate rapidly. Nearly a third of patients need to be admitted to the ICU, and patients are likely to cause respiratory failure or even death.