Clinical severity of COVID-19 and general characteristics of Koreans

This study aimed to investigate the associations between clinical severity of COVID-19 and general characteristics of the subjects using epidemiological data of 5,601 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in Korea. The subjects of this study were diagnosed with COVID-19 from January 20 to April 30, 2020. The subjects of this study acquired information on patients with confirmed COVID-19 from the Korea Disease Control & Prevention Agency, National Medical Center and the Health Information Manager in hospitals. We found that severity of COVID-19 was greater among patients aged > 60 years, with obesity, clinical symptoms, respiratory diseases, kidney disease, and other diseases (chronic liver disease, rheumatism/autoimmune disease, and dementia). Among the variables, women had reduced clinical severity of COVID-19. Therefore, people with these factors are more susceptible to COVID-19, and they require special attention.