Comparison of initial clinic characteristics of hospitalized patients in Suzhou City during the COVID-19 Omicron wave with ancestral variant wave

Abstract

Background: Recently, the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, Omicron (B.1.1.529), was identified as responsible for a novel wave of COVID-19 worldwide. Here, we compared initial clinical features of hospitalized COVID-19 patients during recent wave (Omicron Variant) with those in ancestral variant wave (2020). Methods: This is a cohort study of electronic health record (EHR) data from a signal center in the China. The clinical data of 116 cases of Omicron hospitalized in 2022 and 87 cases hospitalized in 2020 were collected. The comparisons were performed with the Mann–Whitney U test, Fisher exact test or the chi-square test, and multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results: Clinically, compared with 2020-cohort, Omicron-cohort was more inclined to cluster in younger population and had more nonsymptomatic (25.0%) and nonsevere cases, as well as suffered from comparable extrapulmonary complication. Radiologically, although the major computed tomography (CT) findings of both cohorts were ground-glass opacities (GGOs), crazy-paving pattern was relatively less seen in the Omicron-cohort. Based on multiple logistic regression analysis, Omicron-cohort was associated with a lower risk of complaining with fever, the presence of lung opacity, and increased Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score. Conclusion: This study provided the data of different patterns of clinic characteristics and reduced severity from infections that occurred in Omicron variant as compared with the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020 wave (ancestral variant).

Characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients during the BA.5 omicron wave in Tehran, Iran: a prospective observational study

“…In terms of inflammatory markers, the CRP value was high in our BA.5 hospitalized patients, like in patients with other variants of SARS-CoV-2 [ 36 – 38 ]. However, compared with the reported CRP value for BA.1 and BA.2 in previous studies, the mean CRP level was higher in our study [ 17 , 18 ]. The CRP level was reported to be significantly higher in patients with the Delta variant [ 19 , 38 ].…”

“…Although the average age of our patients was 45·3 years and none were asymptomatic, in a study on patients with BA.1 subvariant in China, the mean age was 34·5 years and 25% were asymptomatic [ 17 ]. In a review on Omicron BA.2 clinical studies, 58·1% of patients were found asymptomatic and only 4·2% experienced severe symptoms [ 18 ].…”

“…The most common symptom of patients with BA.5 Omicron subvariant in our study was weakness, and fever was less common (17·1%) than in a previous BA.1 Omicron report (32·8%). [ 17 ] However, fever was the most common symptom (> 80%) in early reports of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 19 , 22 , 23 ]. In our results, similar to the early COVID-19 results, cough was the most common respiratory symptom, and it was significantly more common in hospitalized patients with BA.5 Omicron [ 24 ].…”

“…In previous studies, the most common underlying diseases associated with COVID-19 were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular diseases, which were reported in the same order in our study [ 23 , 27 – 29 ]. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus were similarly reported as the most common underlying diseases in patients with the BA.1 Omicron subvariant [ 17 ].…”

COVID-19 Associated Guillain–Barré Syndrome: A Report of Nine New Cases and a Review of the Literature

“…This could be potentially associated with the high incidence of respiratory failure, as in our patients (five out of nine and two requiring mechanical ventilation), which was higher than that reported in the literature (26.37%), suggesting a possible correlation between GBS secondary to COVID-19 and an increased risk of respiratory dysfunction versus GBS of other causes (25%) [ 13 , 15 , 28 ]. In addition, it would have been interesting to determine if the degree of respiratory failure differs depending on the SARS-CoV-2 variant since it is generally acknowledged that the Omicron variant induces less severe pulmonary involvement and consequently less respiratory failure, for which additional studies are needed [ 51 ]. In such a way, it would be easier to understand if the respiratory failure is related only to GBS or if the SARS-CoV-2 infection also has an additional contribution to it.…”