Comparative profile for COVID-19 cases from China and North America: Clinical symptoms, comorbidities and disease biomarkers

Table 1 Characteristics of the study populations with coronavirus disease 2019 from China and North America

Characteristic	China		North America		P3 value
	Number of cases (n)1	Mean2 (95%CI)	Number of cases (n)1	Mean2 (95%CI)
Age	23088	50.6 (50.4-50.8)	37293	55.5 (55.4-55.6)	< 0.001
Male (%)	29755	52.6 (52.5-52.7)	36298	54.4 (54.2-54.5)	< 0.001
Severity (%)	26810	18.7 (12.8-24.6)	7824	25.1 (19.1-31.3)	< 0.001
Infection outcome (%)
ARDS	13524	14.5 (14.1-14.9)	1849	34.9 (33.9-36.1)	< 0.001
Heart failure	4847	10.6 (10.2-11.1)	2654	2.5 (2.4-2.6)	< 0.001
Septic shock	10886	4.0 (3.8-4.2)	2266	28.4 (27.3-29.5)	< 0.001
Acute kidney injury	12767	5.5 (5.4-5.7)	4761	26.7 (26.4-27.1)	< 0.001
Secondary infection	4617	15.3 (14.7-15.9)	807	5.3 (5.1-5.6)	< 0.001

¹n is the number of subjects assessed for each characteristic as per the source database[7].

²Weighted mean.

³Student’s t-test or Chi Square test. ARDS: Acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Table 2 Meta-analyses for the frequency of clinical symptoms in coronavirus disease 2019 cases from China and North America

Symptoms	China						North America						P2 value
	Number of cases (n)1	Meta-analysis		Heterogenicity			Number of cases (n)	Meta-analysis		Heterogenicity
		Frequency (%)	95%CI	τ2	Q	I2		Frequency (%)	95%CI	τ2	Q	I2
Fever	25223	77.5	75.8-79.2	0.015	3591	93	4,502	43.3	30.8-56.1	0.099	5023	96	< 0.001
Cough	24105	59.6	56.9-62.4	0.041	4843	95	3766	58.3	44.7-71.9	0.951	1997	98	0.131
Dyspnea	20558	29.4	26.7-32.1	0.028	9566	98	3711	38.9	24.3-53.5	0.103	4636	99	< 0.001
Headache	13627	9.8	8.6-11.1	0.003	726	85	2483	8.9	6.4-11.4	0.001	36	64	0.163
Expectoration	14426	28.1	25.3-30.7	0.018	1719	93	2024	8.2	5.5-10.9	0.002	14	72	< 0.001
Myalgia	16.184	19.1	17.1-21.2	0.012	3596	96	1224	22.5	12.8-32.3	0.019	159	94	< 0.001
Fatigue	19561	36.3	33.2-39.4	0.038	5004	97	21	48.3	20.1-76.5	0.032	4	51	0.253
Diarrhea	20535	10.4	9.3-11.6	0.004	2210	92	3719	12.9	7.6-18.2	0.012	538	96	< 0.001
Vomiting and nausea	14974	7.2	6.1-8.3	0.003	1485	91	2198	11.6	6.1-17.1	0.006	108	91	< 0.001
Sore throat	11379	9.1	7.7-10.4	0.002	476	84	2542	8.3	6.8-9.8	0.001	16	23	0.202
Chills	5949	7.5	5.2-9.8	0.003	386	94	2108	17.7	16.1-19.3	0.001	5	18	< 0.001

¹n is the number of subjects assessed for each clinical symptom as per the source database[7].

²Chi Square test for the difference between symptom frequency in China and North America.

Table 3 Meta-analyses for the prevalence of comorbidities in the study populations of coronavirus disease 2019 cases from China and North America

Comorbidities	China						North America						P2 value
	Number of cases (n)1	Meta-analysis		Heterogenicity			Number of cases (n)	Meta-analysis		Heterogenicity
		Frequency (%)	95%CI	τ2	Q	I2		Frequency (%)	95%CI	τ2	Q	I2
Obesity	666	2.1	0.1-4.3	0.001	54	91	26895	22.9	18.1-27.9	0.016	2130	99	< 0.001
Hypertension	22650	25.6	23.8-27.4	0.013	2154	91	34442	47.6	41.0-54.2	0.034	5347	99	< 0.001
Diabetes	23770	11.8	10.9-12.6	0.002	980	79	35384	34.1	30.1-38.2	0.015	3169	98	< 0.001
Cardiovascular diseases	22439	7.9	7.1-8.7	0.002	1339	86	33459	20.8	18.4-23.3	0.005	4379	99	< 0.001
COPD	17263	3.3	2.8-3.7	0.001	540	78	29697	11.6	10.1-13.1	0.001	716	94	< 0.001
Cancer	16527	9.7	7.1-12.2	0.017	19185	99	24564	6.6	5.5-7.6	0.001	254	89	< 0.001
Liver diseases (any)	11087	3.3	2.8-3.9	0.001	276	68	9706	3.1	2.1-4.2	0.001	98	83	0.414
Chronic kidney diseases	16394	2.1	1.7-2.4	0.001	236	59	30761	11.8	10.0-13.6	0.002	1082	86	< 0.001

¹n is the number of subjects assessed for each comorbidity as per the source database[7].

²Chi Square test for the difference between prevalence of comorbidity in China and North America. COPD: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Table 4 Average levels of biomarkers in coronavirus disease 2019 cases from China and North America

Biomarker	China		North America		P3 value	Reference range
	Number of cases (n)1	Mean2 (95%CI)	Number of cases (n)1	Mean2 (95%CI)
White blood cell count (109/L)	21703	5.47 (5.4-5.6)	9094	7.53 (7.51-7.55)	< 0.0001	3.4-9.6
Lymphocyte count (109/L)	22053	1.04 (1.0-1.3)	8653	0.88 (0.87-0.89)	< 0.0001	0.95-3.07
Aspartate aminotransferase (U/L)	15495	30.8 (30.5-31.3)	8627	45.2 (45.1-45.3)	< 0.0001	8-20
Total bilirubin (μmoL/L)	10824	10.7 (10.6-10.8)	281	1.4 (1.1-1.7)	< 0.0001	2-17
Creatine kinase (U/L)	11382	85.3 (84.7-85.8)	9033	115 (113-117)	< 0.0001	M: 25-90 F: 10-70
C-reactive protein (mg/L)	16144	25.9 (25.5-26.4)	12059	116 (115-117)	< 0.0001	0-8
Procalcitonin (ng/mL)	12050	2.44 (2.2-2.6)	11661	0.70 (0.68-0.72)	< 0.0001	0-0.15

¹n is the number of subjects assessed for a given characteristic as per the source database[7].

²Weighted mean; ³Student’s t-test.