Background: In late December 2019, an outbreak of acute respiratory illness, coronavirus disease 2019 , emerged in Wuhan, China. We aimed to study the epidemiology, clinical features and short-term outcomes of patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Methods: We performed a single center, retrospective case series study in 221 patients with laboratory confirmed SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia at a university hospital, including 55 severe patients and 166 non-severe patients, from January 2, 2020 to February 10, 2020. Results: Of the 221 patients with COVID-19, the median age was 55.0 years and 48.9% were male and only 8 (3.6%) patients had a history of exposure to the Huanan Seafood Market. Compared to the non-severe pneumonia patients, the median age of the severe patients was significantly older, and they were more likely to have chronic comorbidities. Most common symptoms in severe patients were high fever, anorexia and dyspnea. On admission, 33.0% patients showed leukopenia and 73.8% showed lymphopenia. In addition, the severe patients suffered a higher rate of co-infections with bacteria or fungus and they were more likely to developing complications. As of February 15, 2020, 19.0% patients had been discharged and 5.4% patients died. 80% of severe cases received ICU (intensive care unit) care, and 52.3% of them transferred to the general wards due to relieved symptoms, and the mortality rate of severe patients in ICU was 20.5%. Conclusions: Patients with elder age, chronic comorbidities, blood leukocyte/lymphocyte count, procalcitonin level, co-infection and severe complications might increase the risk of poor clinical outcomes.

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Pan and ZY Peng are cocorresponding authors.All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. AbstractRationale: In late December 2019, an outbreak of acute respiratory illness, now officially named as COVID-19, or coronavirus disease 2019, emerged in Wuhan, China, now spreading across the whole country and world. More data were needed to understand the clinical characteristics of the disease. Objectives:To study the epidemiology, clinical features and outcomes of patients with COVID-19.Methods: we performed a single center, retrospective case series study in 221 patients with laboratory confirmed SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia at a university hospital. Measurements and Main Results:The median age was 55.0 years and 48.9% were male and only 8 (3.6%) patients had a history of exposure to the Huanan Seafood Market.Compared to the non-severe pneumonia patients, the median age of the severe patients was significantly older, and they were more likely to have chronic comorbidities. Most common symptoms in severe patients were high fever, anorexia and dyspnea. On admission, 33.0% patients showed leukopenia and 73.8% showed lymphopenia. In addition, the severe patients suffered a higher rate of co-infections with bacteria or fungus and they were more likely to developing complications. As of February 15, 2020, 19.0% patients had been discharged and 5.4% patients died. 80% of severe cases received ICU care, and 52.3% of them transferred to the general wards due to relieved symptoms, and the mortality rate of severe patients in ICU was 20.5%. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. : medRxiv preprint 2 Conclusions: The COVID-19 epidemic spreads rapidly by human-to-human transmission.Patients with elder age, chronic comorbidities, blood leukocyte/lymphocyte count, procalcitonin level, co-infection and severe complications might increase the risk of poor clinical outcomes. Abstract: 247 words