摘要
BACKGROUND In contrast to many Western countries,China has maintained its large psychiatric hospitals.The prevalence and clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)in inpatients with schizophrenia(SCZ)are unclear.AIM To assess the prevalence of COVID-19 among inpatients with SCZ and compare the infected to uninfected SCZ patients in a Wuhan psychiatric hospital.METHODS We retrospectively collected demographic characteristics and clinical profiles of all SCZ patients with COVID-19 at Wuhan’s Youfu Hospital.RESULTS Among the 504 SCZ patients,84 had COVID-19,and we randomly sampled 174 who were uninfected as a comparison group.The overall prevalence of COVID-19 in SCZ patients was 16.7%.Among the 84 SCZ patients with confirmed COVID-19,the median age was 54 years and 76.2%were male.The most common symptom was fever(82%),and less common symptoms were cough(31%),poor appetite(20%),and fatigue(16%).Compared with SCZ patients without COVID-19,those with COVID-19 were older(P=0.006)and significantly lighter(P=0.002),and had more comorbid physical diseases(P=0.001).Surprisingly,those infected were less likely to be smokers(<0.001)or to be treated with dozapine(P=0.03).Further logistic regression showed that smoking[odds ratio(OR)=5.61],clozapine treated(OR=2.95),and male(OR=3.48)patients with relatively fewer comorbid physical diseases(OR=0.098)were at a lower risk for COVID-19.SCZ patients with COVID-19 presented primarily with fever,but only one-third had a cough,which might otherwise be the most common mode of transmission between individuals.CONCLUSION Two unexpected protective factors for COVID-19 among SCZ inpatients are smoking and dozapine treatment.
