Open Access

COVID‑19: Main findings after a year and half of unease and the proper scientific progress (Review)

  • Authors:
    • Marius Traian Leretter
    • Dan Dumitru Vulcanescu
    • Florin George Horhat
    • Anamaria Matichescu
    • Mircea Rivis
    • Laura-Cristina Rusu
    • Alexandra Roi
    • Robert Racea
    • Ioana Badea
    • Cristina Adriana Dehelean
    • Alexandra Mocanu
    • Delia Ioana Horhat

  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: May 4, 2022     https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2022.11350
  • Article Number: 424

  • Copyright: © Leretter et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Since the emergence of the disease in late December 2019, numerous studies have been published to date regarding clinical, laboratory and treatment aspects associated with COVID‑19. The present study attempts to compare and unify the clinical, para‑clinical and therapeutic aspects that have come to light regarding coronavirus disease‑19 (COVID 19), mainly in adults. Between April 2020 and September 2021, a comprehensive systematic literature review was performed, which we added to from our own medical experiences. The search was performed on the PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar databases, comprising studies with analyzable data that were identified alongside studies and documents containing general scientific data. All published studies were written in English, and were from different countries. A 95% confidence interval (CI95) was also calculated for almost each study using the Wilson formula. When compared with preliminary reports between December 2019 and January 2020, the most frequent symptoms were still identified as being fever (68.6%; CI95: 67.5‑69.7) and cough (72.7%; CI95: 71.7‑73.8). Nevertheless, asymptomatic cases also increased (by 21.4%; CI95: 16.6‑27.1). Severe and critical cases accounted for 10.4% (CI95: 9.6‑11.1) of all cases. The mean fatality rate was found to be 4% (CI95: 3.6‑4.5). The primary co‑morbidity found was hypertension (28.9%; CI95: 27‑30.8), followed by other underlying cardiovascular diseases (15.4%; CI95: 13.9‑16.9) and diabetes (14.5%; CI95: 13.1‑16.1). The majority of studies showed lower white blood cell numbers with neutropenia and lymphopenia, and lower platelet levels. The levels of the biomarkers C‑reaction protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate were positive in all studied cases alongside other lab tests, such as examining the D‑dimer levels and those of other hepatic, cardiac and renal injury markers. The procalcitonin level was also found to be elevated in many cases, resulting in high usage of antibiotics (83.7%; CI95: 81.2‑85.9). Approximately 31.6% (CI95: 29.1‑34.1) of the patients required non‑invasive ventilation, whereas 9.9% (CI95: 8.1‑12.1) of the patients were intubated or placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The most used antivirals were ribavirin (67.3%; CI95: 63.4‑70.9), oseltamivir (52.5%; CI95: 49.4‑55.5) and Arbidol™ (34.5%; CI95: 32‑37.1). General admittance to the intensive care unit was ~7.2% (CI95: 6.5‑7.9) of patients.
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Spandidos Publications style
Leretter MT, Vulcanescu DD, Horhat FG, Matichescu A, Rivis M, Rusu L, Roi A, Racea R, Badea I, Dehelean CA, Dehelean CA, et al: COVID‑19: Main findings after a year and half of unease and the proper scientific progress (Review). Exp Ther Med 23: 424, 2022
APA
Leretter, M.T., Vulcanescu, D.D., Horhat, F.G., Matichescu, A., Rivis, M., Rusu, L. ... Horhat, D.I. (2022). COVID‑19: Main findings after a year and half of unease and the proper scientific progress (Review). Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 23, 424. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2022.11350
MLA
Leretter, M. T., Vulcanescu, D. D., Horhat, F. G., Matichescu, A., Rivis, M., Rusu, L., Roi, A., Racea, R., Badea, I., Dehelean, C. A., Mocanu, A., Horhat, D. I."COVID‑19: Main findings after a year and half of unease and the proper scientific progress (Review)". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 23.6 (2022): 424.
Chicago
Leretter, M. T., Vulcanescu, D. D., Horhat, F. G., Matichescu, A., Rivis, M., Rusu, L., Roi, A., Racea, R., Badea, I., Dehelean, C. A., Mocanu, A., Horhat, D. I."COVID‑19: Main findings after a year and half of unease and the proper scientific progress (Review)". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 23, no. 6 (2022): 424. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2022.11350