Clinical characteristics of re-hospitalized COVID-19 patients with recurrent positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA: a retrospective study

• DOI: 10.1007/s10096-020-04151-9
• Publication Date: 2021-01-15T04:27:45Z
• Authors: Lei Pan; Runsheng Wang; Na Yu; Chao Hu; Junhong Yan; Xiaomin Zhang; Tao Wang; Jungui Hao; Fuquan Gao; Tonggang Liu; Jing Wang; Xiaojing Liu; Mi Mu; Wei Huang; Yongzhong Guo; Changjun Lv; Xiaozhi Wang; Lei Tu; Kun Wan; Guogang Xu
• Keywords: Microbiology (medical); Adult; Male; China; Fever; Patient Readmission; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Humans; Fatigue; Aged; Retrospective Studies; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; General Medicine; Length of Stay; Middle Aged; 3. Good health; Infectious Diseases; Cough; COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing; RNA, Viral; Original Article; Female

At present, it has been noticed that some patients recovered from COVID-19 present a recurrent positive RNA test of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) after being discharged from hospitals. The purpose of the current study was to characterize the clinical features of re-hospitalized patients with recurrent SARS-CoV-2 positive results. From January 12 to April 1 of 2020, our retrospective study was conducted in China. The exposure history, baseline data, laboratory findings, therapeutic schedule, and clinical endpoints of the patients were collected. All the patients were followed until April 10, 2020. Among all COVID-19 patients included in the current study, there were 14 re-hospitalized patients due to recurrent positive tests of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Fever (11 [78.6%]), cough (10 [71.4%]), and fatigue (7 [50.0%]) were the most common symptoms on the patient's first admission, and less symptoms were found on their second admission. The average duration from the onset of symptoms to admission to hospital was found to be 8.4 days for the first admission and 2.6 days for the second admission (P = 0.002). The average time from the detection of RNA (+) to hospitalization was 1.9 days for the first admission and 2.6 days for the second admission (P = 0.479), and the average time from RNA (+) to RNA (-) was 11.1 days for the first admission and 6.3 days for the second admission (P = 0.030). Moreover, the total time in hospital was 18.6 days for the first admission and 8.0 days for the second admission (P = 0.000). It may be necessary to increase the isolation observation time and RT-PCR tests should be timely performed on multiple samples as soon as possible.