Risk of mortality associated with human coronaviruses in adults

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to describe seasonal and mortality differences of human coronaviruses (HCoVs) 229E and OC43 infection in adults. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on adult (≥18 years) patients admitted to the emergency department and ward of a university teaching hospital for suspected viral infection during Oct. 2012-Dec. 2017 (N=8,071). Respiratory viruses were detected in 1,689 patients using multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction. Of those, 134 cases of HCoVs infection were detected including 12 cases mixed infection with other respiratory viruses. HCoV229E and OC43 single infection were 44 and 78 cases, respectively. The main outcome was 30-day all-cause mortality. Results: We identified 122 hospitalized adults with HCoVs infection without mixed infection. HCoVs 229E are predominantly detected in January and February, whereas OC43 (patterns - delete) occurred throughout the year. Sixteen hospitalized patients (13.1%) with HCoVs infection required admission to the ICU. Thirty-day all-cause mortality for 229E and OC43 was 22.7% and 11.5%, respectively. Patients infected with 229E seem to be more likely to die than those with OC43 after multivariate adjustment (OR 2.11, 95% CI 0.74-6.05). Conclusion: HCoVs infections of 229E and OC43 appear to have seasonally different patterns. 229E viral infection seems to be a more severe form than OC43 in adults.