Predictors of mortality for hospitalized young adults aged less than 60 years old with severe COVID-19: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: To analyze the clinical characteristics and predictors for mortality of adult younger than 60 years old with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: We retrospectively retrieved data for 152 severe inpatients with COVID-19 including 60 young patients in the Eastern Campus of Wuhan University affiliated Renmin Hospital in Wuhan, China, from January 31, 2020 to February 20, 2020. We recorded and analyzed patients’ demographic, clinical, laboratory, and chest CT findings, treatment and outcomes data. RESULTS: Of those 60 severe young patients, 15 (25%) were died. Male was more predominant in deceased young patients (12, 80%) than that in recovered young patients (22, 49%). Hypertension was more common among deceased young patients (8, 53%) than that in recovered young patients (7, 16%). Compared with the recovered young patients, more deceased young patients presented with sputum (11, 73%), dyspnea (12, 80%) and fatigue (13, 87%). Only sputum, PSI and neutrophil counts were remained as independent predictors of death in a multivariate logistic regression model. Among ARDS patients, the recovered were administrated with corticosteroid earlier and anticoagulation. The addition of neutrophil counts >6.3×10(9)/L to the SMART-COP score resulted in improved area under the curves. CONCLUSIONS: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) infection in young deceased patients appears to cause exuberant inflammatory responses, leading to compromised oxygen exchange, coagulation and multi-organ dysfunction. In addition, young patients with ARDS could benefit from adjuvant early corticosteroid and anticoagulation therapy. The expanded SMART-COP could predict the fatal outcomes with optimal efficiency.