Table 1. Background characteristics of the patients.
| Characteristic | BF.7.14 infection | BA.5.2.48 infection | Statistic | P value |
Abbreviation: M=median; IQR=interquartile range; BMI=body mass index (only applied to ≥18 years old);  =average; SD=standard deviation; COVID-19=coronavirus disease 2019. * χ2 test. † Student's t-test. § χ2 test with contingency correction. | ||||
| Age [years old, (M, IQR)] | 41 (30.8–55.3) | 41 (29.5–52.0) | 11454.500* | 0.729 |
| Male (n, %) | 150 (62.0) | 60 (61.9) | <0.001* | 0.983 |
BMI [kg/m², ( , SD)] |
24.7 (3.9) | 24.5 (4.4) | −0.353† | 0.724 |
| COVID-19 vaccination (n, %) | 0.402§ | 0.526 | ||
| None | 21 (8.9) | 8 (8.3) | ||
| 1 dose | 4 (1.7) | 1 (1.0) | ||
| 2 doses | 47 (20.0) | 18 (18.8) | ||
| ≥3 doses | 163 (69.4) | 69 (71.9) | ||
| Comorbidities (n, %) | ||||
| Hypertension | 44 (18.2) | 11 (11.3) | 2.385* | 0.123 |
| Metabolic disorders | 23 (9.5) | 9 (9.3) | 0.004* | 0.949 |
| Cardiovascular diseases | 14 (5.8) | 5 (5.2) | 0.052* | 0.820 |
| Cerebrovascular diseases | 7 (2.9) | 1 (1.0) | 0.390* | 0.532 |
| Lung diseases | 8 (3.3) | 3 (3.1) | <0.001§ | >0.999 |
| Tumors | 3 (1.2) | 2 (2.1) | 0.005§ | 0.945 |
| Rheumatic diseases | 1 (0.4) | 3 (3.1) | 2.276§ | 0.131 |
| Health-related behaviors | ||||
| Smoking | 61 (25.2) | 15 (15.5) | 3.779* | 0.052 |
| Alcohol consumption | 65 (26.9) | 19 (19.6) | 1.965* | 0.161 |
| Routine exercise | 136 (56.2) | 48 (49.5) | 1.258* | 0.262 |
| Education level (n, %) | 4.661* | 0.198 | ||
| Junior high school or below | 97 (40.1) | 31 (32.0) | ||
| Senior high school (or equivalent) | 63 (26.0) | 21 (21.6) | ||
| Undergraduate | 70 (28.9) | 38 (39.2) | ||
| Postgraduate | 12 (5.0) | 7 (7.2) | ||