Clinical characteristics and related risk factors of disease severity in 101 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Wuhan, China.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) broke out in December 2019. Due its high morbility and mortality, it is necessary to summarize the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients to provide more theoretical basis for future treatment. In the current study, we conducted a retrospective analysis of the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients and explored the risk factors for the severity of illness. A total of 101 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Leishenshan Hospital (Wuhan, China) was classified into three sub-types: moderate (n = 47), severe (n = 36), and critical (n = 18); their clinical data were collected from the Electronic Medical Record. We showed that among the 101 COVID-19 patients, the median age was 62 years (IQR 51-74); 50 (49.5%) patients were accompanied by hypertension, while 25 (24.8%) and 22 (21.8%) patients suffered from diabetes and heart diseases, respectively, with complications. All patients were from Wuhan who had a definite history of exposure to the epidemic area. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that older age, diabetes, chronic liver disease, percentage of neutrophils (N%) > 75%, CRP > 4 mg/L, D-dimer > 0.55 mg/L, IL-2R > 710 U/mL, IL-8 > 62 pg/mL, and IL-10 > 9.1 pg/mL were independent variables associated with severe COVID-19. In conclusion, we have identified the independent risk factors for the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia, including older age, diabetes, chronic liver disease, higher levels of N%, CRP, D-dimer, IL-2R, IL-8, and IL-10, providing evidence for more accurate risk prediction.

Rivaroxaban treatment for cancer-associated venous thromboembolism in a patient with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia: a case report.

Low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is the first-line therapy in acute cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (CAT). However, heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a life-threatening adverse drug reaction that occurs in anticoagulation therapy with LMWH. This article reports the case of a 66-year-old Chinese male who received nadroparin 4100IU twice daily for treating CAT. Unfortunately, the epistaxis persisted and the blood count examination revealed serious thrombocytopenia on postoperative day 5. The patient was diagnosed with HIT and thereafter LMWH therapy was replaced with rivaroxaban. During three months follow-up, the patient had a good recovery without recurrent CAT or bleeding.