Table 2.
Clinical characteristics of the patients
| Clinical characteristics | n (%) |
|---|---|
| Symptoms or signs | |
| Fever | 491 (80.2) |
| Cough | 486 (79.4) |
| Pulmonary rales or signs of consolidation | 344 (56.2) |
| Phlegm | 159 (26.0) |
| Dyspnea | 143 (23.4) |
| Shivering | 96 (15.7) |
| Cyanosis | 63 (10.3) |
| Gastrointestinal symptoms | 43 (7.0) |
| Chest pain | 42 (6.9) |
| Comorbidities | |
| Ischemic cardiomyopathy | 191 (31.2) |
| Cerebrovascular disease | 135 (22.1) |
| Diabetes | 127 (20.8) |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 110 (18.0) |
| Chronic renal failure | 89 (14.5) |
| Malignant solid tumors | 78 (12.7) |
| Other neurological disorders* | 70 (11.4) |
| Gastrointestinal disorders | 59 (9.6) |
| Hematologic malignancies | 37 (6.0) |
| Chronic heart failure† | 35 (5.7) |
| Interstitial lung lesion | 34 (5.6) |
| Organ or bone marrow transplant recipients | 29 (4.7) |
| Interstitial lung disease | 23 (3.8) |
| Rheumatic autoimmune disease | 18 (2.9) |
| Hypohepatia | 16 (2.6) |
| Nephrotic syndrome | 14 (2.3) |
| Imaging study findings | |
| Pulmonary parenchymal lesion | 530 (97.6) |
| Interstitial lung changes | 52 (9.6) |
| Pleural effusion | 78 (14.4) |
| Other factors | |
| Smoking‡ | 85 (13.9) |
| Alcohol consumption | 55 (9.0) |
| Indwelling nasogastric tube | 20 (3.3) |
| Bedridden for long duration§ | 72 (11.8) |
*Other neurological diseases included Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s except for cerebrovascular disease; †Included congenital heart diseases, valvular heart diseases, tuberculosis and pulmonary vascular inflammation, and granulomatous disease; ‡Based on WHO definition of smoking (1997), patients were stratified into groups: (1) Regular smoking, referring to daily smoking of 1 cigarette or more; (2) Occasional smoking, referring to weekly smoking of more than 4 cigarette, but with average daily smoking of <1 cigarette; and (3) No smoking; §Patient who could not manage daily activities all by himself, including wearing clothes, moving, taking actions, toileting, eating, and bathing, and need help from others.