Comparison of CT visual quantitative evaluation and clinical classification
The distribution of pulmonary lobe involvement in different clinical types is shown in Table 2. All 5 lobes were involved in the severe-critical type while the lower lobes were usually involved in the common type (40/46, 87.0%). Compared with the severe-critical type, the common type had a lower incidence of right upper lobe and middle lobe involvement (p = 0.016; p = 0.006, respectively), and also a lower incidence of right lower lobe, left lower lobe, and left upper lobe involvement; however, there was no significant difference between severe-critical type and common type (p = 0.635; p = 0.635; p = 0.239; respectively).
Table 2 Comparison of affected lobe distribution and clinical classification
Frequency of lobe involvement Total (78) Light type (24) Common type (46) Severe-critical type (8) Statistic p value*
Right upper lobe 32 (41.0%) 0 (0%) 24 (52.2%) 8 (100%) – 0.016a
Right middle lobe 30 (38.5%) 0 (0%) 22 (47.8%) 8 (100%) – 0.006a
Right lower lobe 48 (61.5%) 0 (0%) 40 (87.0%) 8 (100%) 0.225 0.635b
Left upper lobe 42 (53.8%) 0 (0%) 34 (73.9%) 8 (100%) 1.386 0.239b
Left lower lobe 48 (61.5%) 0 (0%) 40 (87.0%) 8 (100%) 0.225 0.635b
*p value: common type vs severe-critical type
aFisher exact test
bContinuity correction
The number of involved lobes of different clinical types is shown in Table 3. Common type can involve one, two, three, and four lobes. However, due to less number of cases, there was no significant difference in the first three groups statistically. Common type and severe-critical type can both involve 5 lobes, but severe-critical type had a higher incidence than common type (p = 0.001). For the common type, the involved lobe number of 5 was significantly higher than 1–4 (p = 0.015).
Table 3 Comparison of the number of affected lung lobes with clinical classification
Number of lobes affected Total (78) Light type (24) Common type (46) Severe-critical type (8) Statistic p value*
0 24 (100%) 24 (100) 0 (0) 0 (0%) – –
1 8 (10.3%) 0 8 (17.4%) 0 (0%) 0.546 0.460b
2 6 (7.7%) 0 6 (13.0%) 0 (0%) 0.225 0.635b
3 5 (6.4%) 0 5 (10.9%) 0 (0%) – 1.000a
4 10 (12.8%) 0 10 (21.7%) 0 (0%) 0.937 0.333b
5 25 (32.1%) 0 17 (37.0%) 8 (100%) – 0.001a
More than two lung lobes 40 (51.3%) 0 32 (70.0%) 8 (100%) 1.893 0.169b
Bilateral lungs 45 (57.7%) 0 37 (80.4%) 8 (100%) 0.734 0.392b
*p value: common type vs severe-critical type
aFisher exact test
bContinuity correction
The results of TSS are shown in Fig. 1. Score of mild type was 0, while common type was 1–11 (median 5, P25 2.75, P75 6.25) and severe-critical type was 8–18 (median 10, P25 9, P75 15.25). The score of severe-critical type was significantly higher than common type (p < 0.001). Figures 2 and 3 were from common-type and severe-critical-type patients, respectively.
Fig. 1 The total severity score (TSS) of different clinical classifications. There were 24 cases of light type (31%), 46 cases of common type (60%), and 8 cases of severe-critical type (9%). The median TSS was 10 in severe-critical-type group (range 8–18), which was significantly higher than that of common type (median 5, ranged 1–11)
Fig. 2 A 32-year-old female had fever, cough, and sputum with a body temperature of 38.8 °C for 5 days and admitted to the hospital on Jan. 27, 2020. The leukocytes and lymphocytes were decreased. She was living in Zhuhai and traveled to Wuhan on Jan. 21 and stayed there for 2 days. She was healthy and nonsmoker. Chest CT (images a–c) on the 1st day after admission demonstrated bilateral peripheral ground-glass opacities with linear opacities. TSS was 5. The clinical type was common type. Follow-up CT (images d, e) on the 20th day after onset showed peripheral shrinking consolidation with ground-grass opacities in both lungs
Fig. 3 A 60-year-old male was admitted to the hospital 5 days after fever and cough with a body temperature of 38 °C. The leukocytes were normal and lymphocytes were decreased. He was living in Wuhan and traveled to Zhuhai for the Spring Festival 5 days before the onset of the disease. He had tuberculosis. Chest CT (images a–c) on the 2nd day after admission demonstrated bilateral peripheral ground-glass opacities with minimal consolidation. TSS was 17. The clinical type was severe-critical type. Follow-up CT (images d, e) on the 32nd day after onset showed bilateral fibrotic changes with ground-grass opacities with a left shift of mediastinum