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Infectious Diseases

Comparison of Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Asymptomatic vs Symptomatic Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China

Educational Objective
To understand the difference in clinical characteristics between asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and symptomatic COVID-19 patients

1 Credit CME

JAMA Network Open

Published Online: May 27, 2020

Research Letter

Article Information and Disclosures

Rongrong Yang, PhD¹;

Xien Gui, MBBS¹;

Yong Xiong, PhD¹

Author Affiliations

¹Department of Infectious Diseases, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and has spread globally with sustained human-to-human transmission outside China.¹^,2 To control the spread of COVID-19 and isolate patients as early as possible, the Chinese government requested that close contacts of individuals with COVID-19 must be screened for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. During the screening process, we found some patients whose test results were positive for SARS-CoV-2 but who had no symptoms or signs throughout the course of the disease. Considering that little is known about the differences of clinical features and prognosis between patients who were asymptomatic vs those who were symptomatic,³^,4 this case series aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from 26 transmission cluster series in Wuhan, China, from December 24, 2019, to February 24, 2020.

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Article Information

Accepted for Publication: May 1, 2020.

Published: May 27, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.10182

Correction: This article was corrected on June 26, 2020, to fix incorrect reporting of the statistics.

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2020 Yang R et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Yong Xiong, Department of Infectious Diseases, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Donghu Road 169, Wuchang District, Wuhan city 430071, Hubei Province, China (yongxiong64@163.com).

Author Contributions: Drs Yang and Xiong had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Yang, Xiong.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Yang, Gui.

Drafting of the manuscript: Yang.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors.

Statistical analysis: Yang.

Obtained funding: Xiong.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Yang, Xiong.

Supervision: All authors.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

Funding/Support: This study was supported by Grant No. TFJC2018002 from the Medical Science Advancement Program (Basical Medical Sciences) of Wuhan University.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

References

Zhu N , Zhang D , Wang W , et al; China Novel Coronavirus Investigating and Research Team. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(8):727-733. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2001017 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Huang C , Wang Y , Li X , et al. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395(10223):497-506. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30183-5 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Zhang JJ , Dong X , Cao YY , et al. Clinical characteristics of 140 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China. Allergy. Published online February 19, 2020. doi:10.1111/all.14238 PubMed Google Scholar

Guan WJ , Ni ZY , Hu Y , et al; China Medical Treatment Expert Group for Covid-19. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(18):1708-1720. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2002032 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.