Clinical Characteristics and Clusters Analysis of 1009 COVID-19 Patients
in Taiwan: A Registry Study
Abstract
Rationale, aims and objectives: The purpose of this study is to describe
the symptoms and clusters characteristics of COVID-19 patients in
Taiwan. Method: The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) from Taiwan
CDC daily press release publications were extracted for patient
demographic information (age, gender, case type and cluster) and the
symptoms exhibited by the patients before diagnosis were collected.
Results: A total of 1030 COVID-19 cases were reported in Taiwan up until
the end of March 2021, of which 1009 patients had symptoms available. Of
available patient data, 633 patients (62.74%) were symptomatic and 376
patients (37.26%) were asymptomatic, as classified in our study based
on the published list of potential symptoms of COVID-19 by WHO. The most
prevalent symptoms of our patients were coughing (29.33%), fever
(26.56%) and nasal symptoms (20.22%). Our regression analysis found
when the first detected patient of the cluster had a subjective
sensation of feeling feverish, the number of infected cases in the
cluster increased by 4.59 cases. Similarly, patients who experienced a
slightly elevated body temperature or fever were associated with an
increase of 2.37 and 0.35 cases in each cluster, respectively.
Furthermore, increasing one new COVID-19 test per thousand population
reduces 7.22 cases per cluster. Conclusions: The majority of reported
cases in Taiwan were symptomatic. Symptoms which had the greatest number
of patients overall were cough, fever, and nasal symptoms. It is our
hope to help physicians to better diagnose current Taiwan COVID-19
patients, while aiding the government in stopping the spread of new
cases.