Clinical characteristics associated with COVID-19 severity in California

Given the rapidly progressing COVID-19 pandemic, this report on a US cohort of 54 COVID-19 patients from Stanford Hospital and data regarding risk factors for severe disease obtained at initial clinical presentation is of high importance and is immediately clinically relevant. We identified low presenting oxygen saturation as predictive of severe disease outcomes, such as diagnosis of pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and admission to the ICU, and also replicated data from China suggesting a link between hypertension and disease severity. Clinicians will benefit by tools to rapidly risk stratify patients at presentation by likelihood of progression to severe disease.