Table 2.
Characteristics of COVIDOM sub-cohorts and disease severity during the acute phase of COVID-19.
| Kiel-I (n = 667) |
Würzburg/ Berlin (n = 316) |
Kiel-II (n = 459) |
p valueh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age [years], mean (SD)a | 48·2 (15·9) | 47·2 (16·7) | 45·3 (15·1) | 0·0089 |
| Women, n (%)b | 376 (56·5) | 164 (52·1) | 256 (55·8) | 0·42 |
| Men, n (%)b | 290 (43·5) | 151 (47·8) | 203 (44·2) | |
| Caucasian ethnicity, n (%)b | 644 (96·6) | 302 (98·1) | 438 (95·8) | 0·24 |
| BMI [kg/m2], mean (SD)a | 26·9 (5·2) | 26·5 (5·8) | 27·7 (5·8) | 0·0097 |
| Smokera,b,c, n (%) | 189 (30·0) | 88 (29·5) | 134 (31·1) | 0·87 |
| Pre-existing comorbidities | ||||
| Respiratory diseases, n (%)b,d | 118 (17·9) | 52 (16·7) | 100 (22·2) | 0·11 |
| Cardiovascular diseases, n (%)b,d | 205 (31·0) | 94 (30·5) | 129 (28·6) | 0·70 |
| Neurological diseases, n (%)b,d | 131 (19·6) | 44 (13·9) | 57 (12·4) | 0·0027 |
| Psychiatric diseases, n (%)b,d | 92 (13·8) | 31 (9·8) | 56 (12·2) | 0·21 |
| Gastrointestinal diseases, n (%)b,d | 72 (10·8) | 31 (9·8) | 39 (8·5) | 0·037 |
| Diabetes, n (%)b,d | 33 (5·2) | 14 (4·5) | 13 (2·8) | <0·0001 |
| Rheumatologic or immunologic diseases, n (%)b,d | 67 (10·2) | 26 (8·4) | 44 (9·6) | 0·68 |
| Nephrological diseases, n (%)b,d | 2 (0·3) | 5 (1·6) | 0 | 0·0056 |
| ENT diseases, n (%)b,d | 251 (37·6) | 60 (19·0) | 34 (7·4) | <0·0001 |
| Allergies, n (%)b,d | 266 (39·9) | 112 (35·4) | 169 (36·8) | 0·28 |
| Cancer, n (%)b,d | 12 (1·8) | 7 (2·2) | 6 (1·3) | 0·59 |
| Organ transplantation, n (%)b,d | 1 (0·1) | 0 | 0 | 0·33 |
| Date of SARS-CoV-2 infection | ||||
| PCR proof of SARS-CoV-2 infection before symptom onset, n (%)b | 91 (15·3) | 129 (40·8) | 82 (17·9) | <0·0001 |
| Time between infection and study site visit [days], mean (SD) | 288·6 (69·3) | 356·1 (46·1) | 232·7 (52·0) | <0·0001 |
| Disease severity during the acute phase of COVID-19 | ||||
| No. of symptomse | ||||
| 0-2, n (%) | 56 (8·8) | 26 (8·4) | 32 (7·2) | |
| 3-5, n (%) | 93 (14·5) | 45 (14·5) | 62 (14·0) | 0·31 |
| 6-8, n (%) | 152 (23·8) | 71 (22·5) | 82 (18·5) | |
| 9 or more, n (%) | 339 (53·0) | 168 (54·2) | 267 (60·3) | |
| No. of symptoms rated serious or life-threateningf | ||||
| 0, n (%) | 128 (20·0) | 93 (30·0) | 85 (19·2) | |
| 1-3, n (%) | 296 (46·3) | 125 (40·3) | 197 (44·5) | 0·017 |
| 4-6, n (%) | 139 (21·1) | 56 (18·1) | 99 (22·3) | |
| 7 or more, n (%) | 77 (12·0) | 36 (11·6) | 62 (14·0) | |
| Hospitalisation frequency | ||||
| Inpatient treatmentb,g, n (%) | 66 (10·3) | 13 (6·5) | 22 (4·8) | 0·0024 |
Age, body mass index (BMI), and smoking status as per date of study site visit (i.e., ≥9 months post infection).
Percentages relate to the number of participants with available data (missing data: Caucasian ethnicity 0 [Kiel-I], 8 [Würzburg/Berlin], 2 [Kiel-II]; smoker 46, 18, 28; time between infection and site visit 5, 1, 1; respiratory diseases 10, 4, 8; cardiovascular diseases 5, 8, 8; diabetes 30, 7, 20; rheumatologic/immunologic diseases 11, 6, 3; nephrological diseases 1, 5, 0; ENT diseases 15, 5, 13; allergies 25, 7, 19; cancer 0, 3, 1; no. of symptoms 27, 6, 16; no of symptoms rated serious or life-threatening 27, 6, 16; hospitalisation frequency 26, 117, 0).
current smoker, or former smoker with >5 pack-years.
All information on pre-existing comorbidities was self-reported, assisted by standardised questionnaires and a study physician. ‘Pre-existing’ refers to the time before SARS-CoV-2 infection. The total list of comorbidities underlying the corresponding categorization was derived from the German Corona Consensus Dataset (GECCO-83), the common core data set of the NAPKON project.18
Participants were asked for the presence of the following 23 symptoms during the acute phase of COVID-19: smell distortion, taste distortion, stomach pain, disturbed consciousness or confusion, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, dizziness, cough, hoarseness, sore throat, runny nose, chills, muscle pain, body aches, dyspnoea, wheezing, chest pain, skin rash, fever, headache, hair loss, other symptoms (for further details, see Supplementary Table 1).
Each symptom was rated by the participant as either mild, moderate, severe, or life-threatening.
A total of 17 participants (Kiel-I, 2·5%), 5 participants (Würzburg/Berlin, 1·6%), and 2 participants (Kiel-II, 0·4%), respectively, had received intensive care treatment for acute COVID-19.
Since no formal statistical testing of parameter differences was involved, p values are to interpreted as informal measures of sub-cohort comparability that need not be multiplicity-adjusted.