AUTHOR=Hu Yaohua , Lu You , Dong Jiagui , Xia Delin , Li Jin , Wang Hong , Rao Min , Wang Chenxing , Tong Wanning 

TITLE=Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 mortality: a retrospective study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2025.1464274

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2025.1464274

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=BackgroundThe global impact of SARS-CoV-2 and its associated coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has necessitated urgent characterization of prognostic biomarkers. This study aimed to delineate the epidemiological and clinical predictors of mortality among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted on 123 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 admitted to Huoshenshan Hospital (Wuhan, China) from 1 February 2020 to 30 April 2020. Kaplan–Meier curve and multivariate Cox regression were used to assess the independent factors with survival time. Statistical significance was set at a p-value of <0.05.ResultsThe cohort exhibited a mortality rate of 49.6% (61/123), with the critical clinical type (HR = 7.970, p = 0.009), leukocytosis (HR = 3.408, p = 0.006), and lymphopenia (HR = 0.817, p = 0.038) emerging as independent predictors of reduced survival. Critical-type patients demonstrated significantly elevated inflammatory markers (neutrophils: 10.41 ± 6.23 × 109/L; CRP: 104.47 ± 29.18 mg/L) and coagulopathy (D-dimer: 5.21 ± 2.34 μg/ml) compared to non-critical cases. Deceased patients exhibited pronounced metabolic derangements, including hyperglycemia (9.81 ± 2.07 mmol/L) and hepatic dysfunction (ALP: 174.03 ± 30.13 U/L).ConclusionWe revealed the epidemiological and clinical features of different clinical types of SARS-CoV-2 as summarized in this paper. We found that critical type, leukocyte, and lymphocyte are risk factors that affect survival time, which could be an early and helpful marker to improve management of COVID-19 patients.