Data collection
Demographic characteristics (age and gender), clinical characteristics (comorbidities, laboratory findings, severity of illness scores, treatments, complications and outcomes) were recorded. Clinical data were reviewed independently by two physicians.
Patients were followed for up to 28 days after inpatient hospital admission until hospital discharge, or death, whichever came first. The primary outcome of our study was defined as mortality after admission (during the 28-day monitoring period). The secondary outcome of our study was defined as the patient’s rate of progression to critical illness after admission (during the 28-day period of monitoring).
The SARS-CoV-2 RNA shedding duration was defined as the interval between illness onset and the date of the last pharyngeal swab with a positive finding. We excluded the patients whose pharyngeal swab test remain positive when died.
Corticosteroid treatment was defined as administration of a dose equivalent to ≥25 mg of methylprednisolone per day during hospitalization. The criteria for discharge were determined as: absence of fever for at least 3 days, substantial improvement in both lungs as determined by chest CT, clinical remission of respiratory symptoms, and two throat-swab samples with a SARS-CoV-2 RNA negative finding obtained at least 24 hours apart.