Clinical characteristics of non-pneuminia COVID-19 infection adults in Shanghai, China

Abstract Background Adult patients diagnosed as COVID-19 in Shanghai were accepted in Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center. We found around 4.91% of cases showed non-pneumonia on CT imaging when they were confirmed. Understanding the characteristics of non-pneumonia cases is of great significance to guide clinical treatment and improve prevention and control measures.Methods All dataset of demography, epidemiology, clinical manifestation, laboratory test, diagnosis, classification, condition change, treatment and outcome were obtained by retrospective investigation.Results 16 cases were confirmed COVID-19 with non-pneumonia with clear epidemiological history. The median age of patients was 37 years old and 81.25% were female. The median incubation period was 15.25 days. 75% patients were familial clusters. These patients were presented with mild clinical manifestations, such as bronchitis, common cold and asymptomatic infection with or without laboratory abnormalities. 4(25%)cases had underlying diseases. 3 of them had mild pneumonia on chest CT imaging during hospitalization. All of the cases were cured and discharged after support treatment.Conclusions A few of adult patients after COVID-19 infection had non-pneumonia, with mild clinical manifestations and long incubation time. It usually occurred in young women and history of family aggregation. The mild clinical symptom may be caused by the decreasing pathogenicity after multiple generation of virus replication. However, we should be on alert that the virus is still contagious to human. Therefore, an intensive attention should be paid to these patients to avoid misdiagnosis and overlook, because these patients are potential viral source in infection of other people.