Li JJ, Zhang HQ, Li PJ, Xin ZL, Xi AQ, Zhuo-Ma, Ding YH, Yang ZP, Ma SQ. Case series of COVID-19 patients from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Area in China. World J Clin Cases 2021; 9(24): 7032-7042 [PMID: 34540958 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i24.7032]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Si-Qing Ma, BSc, Doctor, Department of Intensive Medicine, The First People's Hospital of Qinghai Province, No. 2 Gonghe Road, Chengdong District, Xining 810000, Qinghai Province, China. 969658161@qq.com
Research Domain of This Article
Respiratory System
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Ji-Jie Li, Pei-Jun Li, Zhi-Lan Xin, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Qinghai Province Fourth People’s Hospital, Xining 810000, Qinghai Province, China
Hui-Qiong Zhang, Qinghai Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Xining 810000, Qinghai Province, China
Ai-Qi Xi, Zhuo-Ma, Yue-He Ding, Qinghai Province Fourth People's Hospital, Xining 810000, Qinghai Province, China
Zheng-Ping Yang, Si-Qing Ma, Department of Intensive Medicine, The First People's Hospital of Qinghai Province, Xining 810000, Qinghai Province, China
Author contributions: Li JJ, Li PJ, and Zhang HQ contributed to study conception and design; Li JJ, Li PJ, Zhang HQ, Xin ZL, Xi AQ, Zhuo-Ma, and Yang ZP analyzed and interpreted the data; Ma SQ drafted the manuscript; Li JJ revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors gave final approval for submission of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The clinical research protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board and the Ethical Committee of the Qinghai fourth People’s Hospital and Institute (No. 20200401), which were in accordance with the ethical standards of our Institutional Review Board and with the 1975 Helsinki declaration (Revised 2010) and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was waived by the committee because of the retrospective nature of the study.
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests to disclose.
Data sharing statement: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Si-Qing Ma, BSc, Doctor, Department of Intensive Medicine, The First People's Hospital of Qinghai Province, No. 2 Gonghe Road, Chengdong District, Xining 810000, Qinghai Province, China. 969658161@qq.com
Received: March 26, 2021 Peer-review started: March 26, 2021 First decision: May 5, 2021 Revised: June 11, 2021 Accepted: July 5, 2021 Article in press: July 5, 2021 Published online: August 26, 2021 Processing time: 150 Days and 23 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a serious infection caused by the new coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The disease was identified in December 2019 and has caused significant morbidity and mortality worldwide.
Research motivation
Although the mechanisms and treatments for COVID-19 have been explored, there is no report of the treatments and clinical characteristics for COVID-19 patients in the Tibetan plateau area, which features a low temperature, low humidity, and high ultraviolet exposure.
Research objectives
To explore the clinical characteristics and treatments for COVID-19 in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Area in China.
Research methods
This study retrospectively analyzed the blood cell counts (neutrophils and lymphocytes), blood gas analysis, and thoracic computed tomography changes of patients from Qinghai Province before, during, and after treatment (January 23, 2020 to February 21, 2020). In addition, we summarized and analyzed the information of critical patients.
Research results
This study included 18 patients with COVID-19 in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Area. The main manifestations included fever, dry cough, and fatigue. Three patients developed difficulty breathing and had a fever. They were eventually cured and discharged. Of the 18 cases, only two had secondary infections and three developed a critical condition but were cured and discharged. All 18 patients were discharged, and no death occurred.
Research conclusions
This study collectively illuminates the epidemiological characteristics and treatments for COVID-19 patients from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Area in China.
Research perspectives
Our findings provide critical insight into assessing the clinical diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 in the plateau area, which will further improve the understanding of COVID-19.
