Data_Sheet_1_Clinical Characteristics and Eosinophils in Young SARS-CoV-2-Positive Chinese Travelers Returning to Shanghai.docx

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak, which was first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, began to spread throughout the world, and now involves over 200 countries.
Methods: A total of 37 overseas young and middle-aged people, who tested as SARS-CoV-2 positive upon their return to Shanghai, were enrolled for an analysis of their clinical symptoms, blood routine indexes, and lung CT images.
Results: The clinical symptoms were characterized by fever (51.4%), dry cough (13.5%), expectoration (27.0%), hypodynamia (21.6%), pharyngalia (10.8%), pharynoxerosis (8.1%), rhinobyon (13.5%), rhinorrhea (8.1%), muscular soreness (16.2%), and diarrhea (2.7%). In 16.2% of cases, no symptoms were reported. Fever was the most common symptom (51.40%). The pneumonic changes referred to the latticed ground glass imaging and similar white lung imaging accompanied by consolidated shadows. The rate of pneumonia was high (81.10%). We found that the exclusive percent of eosinophils was abnormally low. By analyzing the correlation of eosinophils, fever, and pneumonia, we found that the percentage of eosinophils was low in the COVID-19 patients afflicted with fever or pneumonia (P < 0.01). Additionally, pneumonia and fever were negatively correlated with the percentage of eosinophils and eosinophils/neutrophils ratio (P < 0.01, respectively), but not associated with pneumonia severity (P > 0.05). Fever was not correlated with pneumonia (P > 0.05).
Conclusion: A low percentage of eosinophils may be considered as a biomarker of pneumonia of COVID-19, but not as a biomarker of pneumonia severity.

背景：2019年12月在中国武汉首次报告的新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）疫情现已在全球范围内蔓延，目前已波及200余个国家。
方法：本研究共纳入37名返沪后经检测证实为严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2型（SARS-CoV-2）阳性的境外中青年人群，对其临床症状、血常规指标及肺部计算机断层扫描（CT）影像进行分析。
结果：本研究纳入人群的临床症状主要包括发热（51.4%）、干咳（13.5%）、咳痰（27.0%）、乏力（21.6%）、咽痛（10.8%）、咽干（8.1%）、鼻塞（13.5%）、流涕（8.1%）、肌肉酸痛（16.2%）及腹泻（2.7%）；其中16.2%的患者无明显临床症状，发热为最常见的临床症状（占比51.4%）。肺部炎症改变表现为网格状磨玻璃影及类似白肺的影像学表现，伴实变影；肺炎发生率较高，达81.1%。研究发现患者的嗜酸性粒细胞百分比呈异常降低状态。通过分析嗜酸性粒细胞、发热与肺炎三者间的相关性，本研究发现，合并发热或肺炎的新型冠状病毒肺炎患者嗜酸性粒细胞百分比显著降低（P<0.01）。此外，肺炎与发热分别与嗜酸性粒细胞百分比及嗜酸性粒细胞/中性粒细胞比值呈负相关（两组均P<0.01），但与肺炎严重程度无显著关联（P>0.05）；发热与肺炎之间亦无显著相关性（P>0.05）。
结论：嗜酸性粒细胞百分比降低可作为新型冠状病毒肺炎的潜在生物标志物，但无法用于评估肺炎严重程度。