Table 1.
Patient Characteristics by IFN Administration
| No./Total No. (%) |
p Value∗ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early IFN (n = 216) | No IFN(n = 204) | Late IFN (n = 26) | ||
| Demographic Characteristics | ||||
| Female sex | 93 (43.1) | 109 (53.4) | 8 (30.8) | .024 |
| Age, years, median (IQR) | 50 (39–57) | 49 (35–57) | 51.5 (45–63) | .560 |
| >60 | 39 (18.1) | 49 (24) | 6 (23.1) | .315 |
| Hypertension | 46 (21.3) | 40 (19.6) | 8 (30.8) | .419 |
| Diabetes | 16 (7.4) | 16 (7.8) | 1 (3.8) | .764 |
| High-risk exposure | 133 (61.6) | 126 (61.8) | 20 (76.9) | .296 |
| Admitted to Center 1 | 34 (15.7) | 132 (64.7) | 10 (38.5) | <.001 |
| Clinical FeaturesWithin 24 h of Admission | ||||
| Abnormal CT findings | 215 (99.5) | 199 (97.5) | 26 (100) | .174 |
| Respiratory rate >22/min | 35 (16.2) | 29 (14.2) | 7 (26.9) | .246 |
| O2 saturation, % | ||||
| <90 | 9 (4.2) | 14 (6.9) | 4 (15.4) | .108 |
| 90–93 | 41 (19) | 35 (17.2) | 7 (26.9) | |
| >93 | 166 (76.9) | 155 (76) | 15 (57.7) | |
| Symptom Count | ||||
| 0 | 2 (0.9) | 9 (4.4) | 0 (0) | .006 |
| 1 | 51 (23.6) | 71 (34.8) | 7 (26.9) | |
| 2 | 120 (55.6) | 98 (48) | 19 (73.1) | |
| 3 | 37 (17.1) | 23 (11.3) | 0 (0) | |
| 4 or more | 6 (2.8) | 3 (1.5) | 0 (0) | |
| Lymphopenia (<1.1 × 109/L) | 91/182 (50) | 57/153 (37.3) | 16/20 (80) | .001 |
| Eosinopenia (<0.02 × 109/L) | 125/179 (69.8) | 69/145 (47.6) | 17/20 (85) | <.001 |
| Treatments | ||||
| Time from admission to first IFN dose, days, median (IQR) | 2 (1–2) | N/A | 8.5 (7–11) | <.001 |
| Duration of IFN therapy, days, median (IQR) | 10 (7.5–13.5) | N/A | 8.5 (5–11) | .061 |
| Antibiotics | 183 (84.7) | 161 (78.9) | 25 (96.2) | .051 |
| Lianhua Qingwen capsule | 165 (76.4) | 132 (64.7) | 20 (76.9) | .024 |
| Overall | ||||
| Length of hospital stay, days, median (IQR) | 18 (15–25) | 19.5 (15–26) | 28 (20–34) | .001 |
| Time from admission to CT scan improvement, days, median (IQR) [no.] | 10 (7–13) [214] | 10 (7–14) [191] | 14 (12–19) [22] | .001 |
| Symptom onset to hospital admission >7 days | 63 (29.2) | 51 (25) | 9 (34.6) | .450 |
| Time from symptom onset to hospital discharge, days, median (IQR) [no.] | 25 (21–32) [209] | 26 (21–34) [193] | 32.5 (25–38) [22] | .025 |
| Severity Category | ||||
| Mild or asymptomatic | 1 (0.5) | 3 (1.5) | 0 (0) | .003 |
| Moderate | 159 (74) | 161 (80.1) | 11 (42.3) | |
| Severe | 33 (15.3) | 20 (10) | 8 (30.8) | |
| Critical | 23 (10.7) | 20 (10) | 7 (26.9) | |
| SARS-CoV-2 NA-positive | 205 (94.9) | 165 (80.9) | 24 (92.3) | <.001 |
| Viral shedding after CT scan improvement | 32/213 (15) | 24/195 (12.3) | 2/24 (8.3) | .545 |
| Outcome | ||||
| Recovered | 214 (99.1) | 194 (95.1) | 22 (84.6) | <.001 |
| Deceased | 2 (0.9) | 10 (4.9) | 4 (15.4) | |
Abbreviations: IFN, interferon α-2b; IQR, inter quartile range; NA, nucleic acids.
∗p values were calculated by Pearson chi-Square tests for categorical variables or Kruskal-Wallis 1-way ANOVA for continuous variables across all 3 groups.