Table 1.

Characteristics of 6,873 MERS-CoV suspected and 501 confirmed persons, Saudi Arabia, 2014-2019

	Number and % distribution of suspected cases		Number and % of suspected cases that were confirmed		P-value
Total	6,873	100	501	7.4
Gender
Female	3,028	44.1	154	5.1	<0.001
Male	3,845	55.9	346	9
Age in years
0-20	316	4.6	14	4.4	<0.001
21-40	1,542	22.4	165	10.7
41-60	1,835	26.7	209	11.4
>60	3,180	46.3	114	3.6
Saudi national
No	1,206	17.5	180	14.9	<0.001
Yes	5,667	82.5	323	5.7
Year of admission
2014	164	2.4	58	35.4	<0.001
2015	1,091	15.9	189	17.3
2016	1,132	16.5	58	5.1
2017	1,696	24.7	76	4.5
2018	1,813	26.4	47	2.6
2019	975	14.2	70	7.2
Healthcare worker
No	6,734	98	431	6.4	<0.001
Yes	139	2	72	51.8
History of travel or exposure to MERS CoV cases or vectors
Unknown	6,548	95.3	295	4.5	<0.001
Positive case	243	3.5	142	58.4
Related of MERS CoV patient	54	0.8	47	87
Animal	23	0.3	15	65.2
Travel	2	0	1	50
Admitted through Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
No	5,331	77.6	331	6.2	<0.001
Yes	1,542	22.4	170	11
Days symptomatic before admissiona
<=7 days	3,272	71.2	213	6.5	0.002
>7 days	1,321	28.8	124	9.4
Any symptoms
No	136	2	51	37.5	<0.001
Yes	6,737	98	451	6.7
Gastrointestinal symptoms
No	5,879	85.5	406	6.9	0.010
Yes	994	14.5	96	9.7
Shortness of breath
No	3,310	48.2	305	9.2	<0.001
Yes	3,563	51.8	196	5.5
Cough
No	2,475	36	200	8.1	0.140
Yes	4,398	64	299	6.8
Sore throat
No	6,626	96.4	477	7.2	0.199
Yes	247	3.6	26	10.5
Fever
No	2,821	41	150	5.3	0.001
Yes	4,052	59	353	8.7
Any comorbidity
No	1,663	24.2	190	11.4	<0.001
Yes	5,210	75.8	313	6
Total number of comorbidities
0	1,663	24.2	190	11.4	<0.001
1	2,673	38.9	179	6.7
2	2,004	29.2	110	5.5
3	493	7.2	20	4.1
4	40	0.6	1	2.5
Diabetes
No	3,854	56.1	304	7.9	0.007
Yes	3,019	43.9	196	6.5
Asthma
No	6,191	90.1	464	7.5	0.115
Yes	682	9.9	39	5.7
Hypertension
No	3,865	56.2	340	8.8	<0.001
Yes	3,008	43.8	162	5.4
Chronic Obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
No	6,593	95.9	501	7.6	<0.001
Yes	280	4.1	4	1.4
Cancer
No	6,811	99.1	497	7.3	0.547
Yes	62	0.9	6	9.7
Liver disease
No	6,818	99.2	498	7.3	0.695
Yes	55	0.8	3	5.5
Congestive heart failure
No	6,514	94.8	489	7.5	<0.001
Yes	359	5.2	12	3.3

^aAmong 6,737 patients with any symptoms. Data were missing from 2,166 (32.2%) of these patients.