Characteristics and outcomes of an international cohort of 600 000 hospitalized patients with COVID-19

ISARIC clinical characterisation group, J Kenneth Baillie

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

BACKGROUND: We describe demographic features, treatments and clinical outcomes in the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) COVID-19 cohort, one of the world's largest international, standardized data sets concerning hospitalized patients.

METHODS: The data set analysed includes COVID-19 patients hospitalized between January 2020 and January 2022 in 52 countries. We investigated how symptoms on admission, co-morbidities, risk factors and treatments varied by age, sex and other characteristics. We used Cox regression models to investigate associations between demographics, symptoms, co-morbidities and other factors with risk of death, admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) and invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV).

RESULTS: Data were available for 689 572 patients with laboratory-confirmed (91.1%) or clinically diagnosed (8.9%) SARS-CoV-2 infection from 52 countries. Age [adjusted hazard ratio per 10 years 1.49 (95% CI 1.48, 1.49)] and male sex [1.23 (1.21, 1.24)] were associated with a higher risk of death. Rates of admission to an ICU and use of IMV increased with age up to age 60 years then dropped. Symptoms, co-morbidities and treatments varied by age and had varied associations with clinical outcomes. The case-fatality ratio varied by country partly due to differences in the clinical characteristics of recruited patients and was on average 21.5%.

CONCLUSIONS: Age was the strongest determinant of risk of death, with a ∼30-fold difference between the oldest and youngest groups; each of the co-morbidities included was associated with up to an almost 2-fold increase in risk. Smoking and obesity were also associated with a higher risk of death. The size of our international database and the standardized data collection method make this study a comprehensive international description of COVID-19 clinical features. Our findings may inform strategies that involve prioritization of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who have a higher risk of death.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)355-376
Number of pages21
JournalInternational Journal of Epidemiology
Volume52
Issue number2
Early online date28 Feb 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Apr 2023

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • COVID-19/therapy
  • Child
  • Hospitalization
  • Humans
  • Intensive Care Units
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Risk Factors
  • SARS-CoV-2

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Characteristics and outcomes of an international cohort of 600 000 hospitalized patients with COVID-19'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this