The basic characteristics between survivors and non-survivors with COVID-19 were presented in Table 1. Among a total of 44,672 patients with laboratory confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection, 1023 (2.3%) patients were dead as of February 11, 2020, the last day of follow-up. The fatality rate was increasing with ages and even up to 14.8% in patients aged above 80 years old (see Fig. 1a). The prevalence of COVID-19 between men and women was pretty close (51.4% vs. 48.6%), which is different from previous report (58.1% vs. 41.9%) [3]. Notably, the fatality rate of male patients was significantly higher than that of female patients (RR = 1.67, 95%CI = 1.47–1.89, p < 0.001) (see Fig. 1b). Furthermore, cardiovascular disease (RR = 6.75, 95%CI = 5.40–8.43, p < 0.001), hypertension (HR = 4.48, 95%CI = 3.69–5.45, p < 0.001), diabetes (RR = 4.43, 95%CI = 3.49–5.61, p < 0.001), respiratory disease (RR = 3.43, 95%CI = 2.42–4.87, p < 0.001), and cancers (RR = 2.926, 95%CI = 1.34–6.41, p = 0.006) were the risk factors for fatality of patients with COVID-19.
Table 1 Characteristics between survivors and non-survivors with COVID-19
Characteristics Total (n = 44,672) Non-survivors (n = 1023) Survivors (n = 43,649) Fatality (%) RR (95%CI) p
Age, n (%)
 0– 416 (0.9%) 0 416 (0.9%) 0
 10– 549 (1.2%) 1 (0.1%) 548 (1.3%) 0.2
 20– 3619 (8.1%) 7 (0.7%) 3612 (8.3%) 0.2
 30– 7600 (17.0%) 18 (1.8%) 7582 (17.4%) 0.2
 40– 8571 (19.2%) 38 (3.7%) 8533 (19.5%) 0.4
 50– 10,008 (22.4%) 130 (12.7%) 9878 (22.6%) 1.3
 60– 8583 (19.2%) 309 (30.2%) 8274 (19.0%) 3.6
 70– 3918 (8.8%) 312 (30.5%) 3606 (8.3%) 8.0
 ≥ 80 1408 (3.2%) 208 (20.3%) 1200 (2.7%) 14.8
Severity*, n (%)
 Mild/moderate 36,160 (80.9%) 0 36,160 (82.8%) 0
 Severe 6168 (13.8%) 0 6168 (14.1%) 0
 Critical 2087 (4.7%) 1023 (100%) 1064 (2.4%) 49.0
Gender, n (%)
 Male 22,981 (51.4%) 653 (63.8%) 22,328 (51.2%) 2.8 1.67 (1.47–1.89) < 0.001
 Female 21,691 (48.6%) 370 (36.2%) 21,321 (48.8%) 1.7
Comorbidity#, n (%)
 Hypertension 2683 (12.8%) 161 (39.7%) 2522 (12.3%) 6.0 4.48 (3.69–5.45) < 0.001
 Diabetes 1102 (5.3%) 80 (19.7%) 1022 (5.0%) 7.3 4.47 (3.49–5.61) < 0.001
 Cardiovascular disease 873 (4.2%) 92 (22.7%) 781 (3.8%) 10.5 6.75 (5.40–8.43) < 0.001
 Respiratory disease 511 (2.4%) 32 (7.9%) 479 (2.3%) 6.3 3.43 (2.42–4.87) < 0.001
 Cancer 107 (0.5%) 6 (1.5%) 101 (0.5%) 5.6 2.93 (1.34–6.41) 0.006
*Missing data (n = 257 in survivors group)
#Missing data (n = 617 in the non-survivors group, n = 23,073 in the survivors group)
Fig. 1 Fatality rate distribution of age (a) and gender (b). ***p < 0.001