Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV): a case-controlstudy of hospitalized patients.

Link to article at PubMed

Related Articles

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV): a case-controlstudy of hospitalized patients.

Clin Infect Dis. 2014 Apr 9;

Authors: Al-Tawfiq JA, Hinedi K, Ghandour J, Khairalla H, Musleh S, Ujayli A, Memish ZA

Abstract
Background. There is a paucity of data regarding the differentiating characteristics of laboratory confirmed cases and negative Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) patients. Methods. This is a hospital-based case-control study comparing MERS-CoV positive patients (cases) with MERS-CoVnegative controls. Results. A total of 17 cases and 82 controls with a mean age of 60.7 years and 57 years, respectively (P=0.5532) were included. No statistical differences were observed in relation to gender, the presence of a fever or cough, and the presence of a single or multi-lobar infiltrate on chest x-ray. The cases were more likely to be overweight than the control group (mean BMI 32 vs. 27.8; P=0.0353), to have diabetes mellitus (87% vs. 47%; OR=7.24; P=0.015),and end-stage renal disease (33% vs. 7%; OR=7; P=0.012). At the time of admission, tachypnea (27% vs. 60%; OR=0.24; P=0.031) and respiratory distress (15% vs. 51%; OR=0.15; P=0.012) were less frequentamong cases. MERS-CoV patients were more likely to have a normal WBC than the control group (82% vs. 52%; OR=4.33; P=0.029). Admission chest x-rays with interstitial infiltrates were more frequent in cases than in controls (67% vs. 20%; OR=8.13; P=0.001). Cases were more likely to be admitted to the ICU (53% vs. 20%; OR=4.65; P=0.025) and to have a high mortality rate among (76% vs. 15%; OR=18.96; P<0.001). Conclusions. MERS-CoV patients were more likely to be overweight, have a normal WBC on admission, and interstitial infiltrates on initial chest x-ray, and had a higher mortality rate.

PMID: 24723278 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *