Table 2. Clinical, radiologic, laboratory and diagnostic procedures at admission.
| All | VPA cases | Controls | P value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (n = 495) | (n = 165) | (n = 330) | |||
| Clinical features | |||||
| Duration of symptoms* | days (n = 472) | 5.0 (2.0–9.0) | 3.0 (1.0–7.0) | 7.0 (3.0–10.0) | <0.0001 |
| Asymptomatic | Yes | 23 (4.6%) | 13 (7.9%) | 10 (3.0%) | 0.016 |
| No | 472 (95.4%) | 152 (92.1%) | 320 (97.0%) | ||
| Temperature | °C (n = 488) | 37.03 (36.90–37.16) | 37.03 (36.88–37.19) | 37.03 (36.84–37.21) | 1 |
| Respiratory rate | per minute (n = 391) | 19.80 (19.308–20.31) | 20.24 (19.32–21.22) | 19.59 (18.99–20.31) | 0.2 |
| Heart rate | per minute (n = 486) | 87.65 (86.11–89.22) | 86.74 (83.99–89.57) | 88.10 (86.24–90.00) | 0.4 |
| Oxygen saturation | % (n = 491) | 93.5 (93.0–94.0) | 93.2 (92.4–94.1) | 93.6 (93.1–94.2) | 0.4 |
| pO2 | mm Hg (n = 243) | 70.2 (67.4–73.1) | 69.2 (64.1–74.8) | 70.6 (67.4–74.1) | 0.6 |
| Need for supplementary oxygen | Yes | 282 (57.0%) | 106 (64.2%) | 176 (53.3%) | 0.02 |
| No | 213 (43.0%) | 59 (35.8%) | 154 (46.7%) | ||
| Pulmonary infiltrates | Yes | 390 (80.7%) | 106 (65.8%) | 284 (88.2%) | <0.0001 |
| No | 93 (19.3%) | 55 (34.2%) | 38 (11.8%) | ||
| Bilateral pulmonary infiltrates* | Yes | 328 (84.1%) | 87 (82.1%) | 241 (84.9%) | 0.5 |
| No | 62 (15.9%) | 19 (17.9%) | 43 (15.1%) | ||
| Time to infiltrates detection since the onset of symptoms* § | days (n = 384) | 6.0 (3.0–9.0) | 5.0 (2.0–8.0) | 7.0 (4.0–10.0) | 0.002 |
| Laboratory blood determinations | |||||
| Total leukocyte count | cells/μL (n = 485) | 6411.3 (6163.1–6669.6) | 6439.2 (5995.1–6916.2) | 6397.6 (6100.7–6700.9) | 0.9 |
| Neutrophils | cells/μL (n = 485) | 4521.4 (4303.0–4750.8) | 4249.4 (3888.9–4643.3) | 4662.9 (4393.0–4949.4) | 0.08 |
| Lymphocytes | cells/μL (n = 485) | 1033.3 (985.2–1083.7) | 1193.7 (1089.6–1307.7) | 961.8 (911.4–1014.8) | <0.0001 |
| Monocytes | cells/μL (n = 485) | 459.8 (434.4–486.8) | 535.8 (483.9–593.1) | 426.2 (398.5–455.9) | 0.0002 |
| Eosinophils | cells/μL (n = 485) | 7.73 (6.58–9.09) | 9.73 (7.19–13.18) | 6.90 (5.70–8.34) | 0.049 |
| Basophils | cells/μL (n = 485) | 8.89 (7.83–10.08) | 13.42 (10.79–16.68) | 7.24 (6.23–8.41) | <0.0001 |
| C-reactive protein | mg/L (n = 474) | 46.26 (41.28–51.85) | 35.93 (29.09–44.39) | 52.56 (46.02–60.02) | 0.002 |
| Procalcitonin | ng/mL (n = 255) | 0.10 (0.09–0.11) | 0.10 (0.08–0.13) | 0.10 (0.09–0.12) | 0.9 |
| Aspartate aminotransferase | U/L (n = 357) | 32.66 (30.49–34.99) | 29.43 (26.07–33.21) | 34.39 (31.64–37.38) | 0.036 |
| Alanine aminotransferase | U/L (n = 453) | 26.21 (24.49–28.06) | 21.63 (19.09–24.51) | 28.82 (26.63–31.20) | 0.0001 |
| Creatine kinase | U/L (n = 298) | 102.6 (91.4–115.1) | 115.0 (90.9–145.5) | 96.5 (85.2–109.3) | 0.15 |
| Lactate dehydrogenase | U/L (n = 398) | 293.6 (282.6–304.6) | 280.4 (261.0–301.2) | 299.4 (286.6–312.8) | 0.11 |
| Ferritin | ng/mL (n = 295) | 460.4 (409.2–518.0) | 352.5 (286.8–433.1) | 524.7 (455.6–604.4) | 0.002 |
| IL-6 | pg/mL (n = 210) | 18.75 (15.16–23.18) | 18.85 (12.72–27.94) | 18.70 (14.50–24.11) | 0.9 |
| D-dimer | ng/mL (n = 392) | 585.3 (524.5–648.8) | 593.4 (489.2–719.8) | 578.6 (508.99–657.7) | 0.8 |
| Troponin | ng/L (n = 190) | 9.27 (8.05–10.67) | 9.60 (7.35–12.53) | 9.13 (7.72–10.79) | 0.7 |
| NT-proBNP | pg/mL (n = 132) | 262.0 (199.3–344.3 | 278.5 (179.6–431.9) | 254.1 (178.7–361.3) | 0.8 |
| Biochemical severity score | (n = 484) | 3.19 (2.94–3.45) | 2.77 (2.37–3.24) | 3.42 (3.12–3.74) | 0.016 |
| Diagnostic procedures for SARS-CoV-2 infection | |||||
| Nasopharyngeal PCR | Yes | 451 (94.0%) | 154 (93.9%) | 297 (94.0%) | 1 |
| No | 29 (6.0%) | 10 (6.1%) | 19 (6.0%) | ||
| Nasopharyngeal viral load* | log copies/1000 cells (n = 45) | 6.437 (6.010–6.864) | 6.541 (5.877–7.204) | 6.380 (5.798–6.961) | 0.7 |
| Other samples PCR | Yes | 4 (2.2%) | 0 (0.0%) | 4 (3.4%) | 0.14 |
| No | 174 (97.8%) | 61 (100.0%) | 113 (96.6%) | ||
| Nasopharyngeal antigen | Yes | 67 (63.8%) | 19 (59.4%) | 48 (65.8%) | 0.5 |
| No | 38 (36.2%) | 13 (40.6%) | 25 (34.2%) | ||
| Positive IgM serology | Yes | 37 (39.4%) | 12 (30.8%) | 25 (45.5%) | 0.15 |
| No | 57 (60.6%) | 27 (69.2%) | 30 (54.5%) | ||
| Positive IgG serology | Yes | 45 (37.5%) | 17 (34.7%) | 28 (39.4%) | 0.6 |
| No | 75 (62.5%) | 32 (65.3%) | 43 (60.6%) | ||
| Positive IgM and/or IgG | Yes | 51 (42.9%) | 18 (36.7%) | 33 (47.1%) | 0.3 |
| No | 68 (57.1%) | 31 (63.3%) | 37 (52.9%) | ||
VPA denotes Valproic acid.
Values are expressed as mean (95% CI), §median (IQ range) or %.
* Only in patients who fulfilled the condition.