Characterization and clinical course of 1000 patients with COVID-19 in New York: retrospective case series

OBJECTIVE: To characterize patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a large New York City (NYC) medical center and describe their clinical course across the emergency department (ED), inpatient wards, and intensive care units (ICUs). DESIGN: Retrospective manual medical record review. SETTING: NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP/CUIMC), a quaternary care academic medical center in NYC. PARTICIPANTS: The first 1000 consecutive patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. METHODS: We identified the first 1000 consecutive patients with a positive RT-SARS-CoV-2 PCR test who first presented to the ED or were hospitalized at NYP/CUIMC between March 1 and April 5, 2020. Patient data was manually abstracted from the electronic medical record. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We describe patient characteristics including demographics, presenting symptoms, comorbidities on presentation, hospital course, time to intubation, complications, mortality, and disposition. RESULTS: Among the first 1000 patients, 150 were ED patients, 614 were admitted without requiring ICU-level care, and 236 were admitted or transferred to the ICU. The most common presenting symptoms were cough (73.2%), fever (72.8%), and dyspnea (63.1%). Hospitalized patients, and ICU patients in particular, most commonly had baseline comorbidities including of hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. ICU patients were older, predominantly male (66.9%), and long lengths of stay (median 23 days; IQR 12 to 32 days); 78.0% developed AKI and 35.2% required dialysis. Notably, for patients who required mechanical ventilation, only 4.4% were first intubated more than 14 days after symptom onset. Time to intubation from symptom onset had a bimodal distribution, with modes at 3–4 and 9 days. As of April 30, 90 patients remained hospitalized and 211 had died in the hospital. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 illness at this medical center faced significant morbidity and mortality, with high rates of AKI, dialysis, and a bimodal distribution in time to intubation from symptom onset.