Characteristics of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 during the first to fifth waves of infection: a report from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force

Ho Lee; Shotaro Chubachi; Ho Namkoong; Takanori Asakura; Hiromu Tanaka; Shiro Otake; Kensuke Nakagawara; Atsuho Morita; Takahiro Fukushima; Mayuko Watase; Tatsuya Kusumoto; Katsunori Masaki; Hirofumi Kamata; Makoto Ishii; Naoki Hasegawa; Norihiro Harada; Tetsuya Ueda; Soichiro Ueda; Takashi Ishiguro; Ken Arimura; Fukuki Saito; Takashi Yoshiyama; Yasushi Nakano; Yoshikazu Mutoh; Yusuke Suzuki; Koji Murakami; Yukinori Okada; Ryuji Koike; Yuko Kitagawa; Akinori Kimura; Seiya Imoto; Satoru Miyano; Seishi Ogawa; Takanori Kanai; Koichi Fukunaga; Japan COVID-19 Task Force

doi:10.1186/s12879-022-07927-w

Characteristics of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 during the first to fifth waves of infection: a report from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force

BMC Infect Dis. 2022 Dec 12;22(1):935. doi: 10.1186/s12879-022-07927-w.

Authors

Ho Lee¹, Shotaro Chubachi², Ho Namkoong³, Takanori Asakura¹, Hiromu Tanaka¹, Shiro Otake¹, Kensuke Nakagawara¹, Atsuho Morita¹, Takahiro Fukushima¹, Mayuko Watase¹, Tatsuya Kusumoto¹, Katsunori Masaki¹, Hirofumi Kamata¹, Makoto Ishii¹, Naoki Hasegawa⁴, Norihiro Harada⁵, Tetsuya Ueda⁶, Soichiro Ueda⁷, Takashi Ishiguro⁸, Ken Arimura⁹, Fukuki Saito¹⁰, Takashi Yoshiyama¹¹, Yasushi Nakano¹², Yoshikazu Mutoh¹³, Yusuke Suzuki¹⁴, Koji Murakami¹⁵, Yukinori Okada^{16

17

18}, Ryuji Koike¹⁹, Yuko Kitagawa²⁰, Akinori Kimura²¹, Seiya Imoto²², Satoru Miyano²³, Seishi Ogawa²⁴, Takanori Kanai²⁵, Koichi Fukunaga¹; Japan COVID-19 Task Force

Collaborators

Japan COVID-19 Task Force:
Ho Lee, Shotaro Chubachi, Ho Namkoong, Takanori Asakura, Hiromu Tanaka, Shiro Otake, Kensuke Nakagawara, Atsuho Morita, Takahiro Fukushima, Mayuko Watase, Tatsuya Kusumoto, Katsunori Masaki, Hirofumi Kamata, Makoto Ishii, Naoki Hasegawa, Norihiro Harada, Tetsuya Ueda, Soichiro Ueda, Takashi Ishiguro, Ken Arimura, Fukuki Saito, Takashi Yoshiyama, Yasushi Nakano, Yoshikazu Mutoh, Yusuke Suzuki, Koji Murakami, Yukinori Okada, Ryuji Koike, Yuko Kitagawa, Akinori Kimura, Seiya Imoto, Satoru Miyano, Seishi Ogawa, Takanori Kanai, Koichi Fukunaga, Kazuhisa Takahashi, Toshio Naito, Makoto Hiki, Yasushi Matsushita, Haruhi Takagi, Ryousuke Aoki, Ai Nakamura, Sonoko Harada, Hitoshi Sasano, Katsunori Masaki, Shinnosuke Ikemura, Satoshi Okamori, Hideki Terai, Takanori Asakura, Junichi Sasaki, Hiroshi Morisaki, Yoshifumi Uwamino, Kosaku Nanki, Yohei Mikami, Sho Uchida, Shunsuke Uno, Rino Ishihara, Yuta Matsubara, Tomoyasu Nishimura, Takunori Ogawa, Toshiro Sato, Masanori Azuma, Ryuichi Saito, Toshikatsu Sado, Yoshimune Miyazaki, Ryuichi Sato, Yuki Haruta, Tadao Nagasaki, Yoshinori Yasui, Yoshinori Hasegawa, Ai Tada, Masayoshi Miyawaki, Masaomi Yamamoto, Eriko Yoshida, Reina Hayashi, Tomoki Nagasaka, Sawako Arai, Yutaro Kaneko, Kana Sasaki, Taisuke Isono, Shun Shibata, Yuma Matsui, Chiaki Hosoda, Kenji Takano, Takashi Nishida, Yoichi Kobayashi, Yotaro Takaku, Noboru Takayanagi, Etsuko Tagaya, Masatoshi Kawana, Yasushi Nakamori, Kazuhisa Yoshiya, Fukuki Saito, Tomoyuki Yoshihara, Daiki Wada, Hiromu Iwamura, Syuji Kanayama, Shuhei Maruyama, Takanori Hasegawa, Kunihiko Takahashi, Tatsuhiko Anzai, Satoshi Ito, Akifumi Endo, Yuji Uchimura, Yasunari Miyazaki, Takayuki Honda, Tomoya Tateishi, Shuji Tohda, Naoya Ichimura, Kazunari Sonobe, Chihiro Tani Sassa, Jun Nakajima, Masumi Ai, Ken Hiroyuki OhtaKokuto, Hideo Ogata, Yoshiaki Tanaka, Kenichi Arakawa, Masafumi Shimoda, Takeshi Osawa, Yukiko Nakajima, Ryusuke Anan, Ryosuke Arai, Yuko Kurihara, Yuko Harada, Kazumi Nishio, Tomonori Sato, Reoto Takei, Satoshi Hagimoto, Yoichiro Noguchi, Yasuhiko Yamano, Hajime Sasano, Sho Ota, Sohei Nakayama, Keita Masuzawa, Tomomi Takano, Kazuhiko Katayama, Koji Murakami, Mitsuhiro Yamada, Hisatoshi Sugiura, Hirohito Sano, Shuichiro Matsumoto, Nozomu Kimura, Yoshinao Ono, Hiroaki Baba, Rie Baba, Daisuke Arai, Takayuki Ogura, Hidenori Takahashi, Shigehiro Hagiwara, Genta Nagao, Shunichiro Konishi, Ichiro Nakachi, Hiroki Tateno, Isano Hase, Shuichi Yoshida, Shoji Suzuki, Miki Kawada, Hirohisa Horinouchi, Fumitake Saito, Keiko Mitamura, Masao Hagihara, Junichi Ochi, Tomoyuki Uchida, Ryuya Edahiro, Yuya Shirai, Kyuto Sonehara, Tatsuhiko Naito, Kenichi Yamamoto, Shinichi Namba, Ken Suzuki, Takayuki Shiroyama, Yuichi Maeda, Takuro Nii, Yoshimi Noda, Takayuki Niitsu, Yuichi Adachi, Takatoshi Enomoto, Saori Amiya, Reina Hara, Noa Sasa, Shuhei Yamada, Toshihiro Kishikawa, Kazunori Tomono, Kazuto Kato Shuhei Yamada, Yuya Ueno, Motoyuki Suzuki, Norihiko Takemoto, Hirotaka Eguchi, Takahito Fukusumi, Takao Imai, Munehisa Fukushima, Masatoshi Takagaki, Haruhiko Kishima, Hidenori Inohara, Haruhiko Hirata, Yoshito Takeda, Atsushi Kumanogoh, Naoki Miyazawa, Yasuhiro Kimura, Reiko Sado, Hideyasu Sugimoto, Akane Kamiya, Naota Kuwahara, Akiko Fujiwara, Tomohiro Matsunaga, Yoko Sato, Takenori Okada, Takashi Inoue, Toshiyuki Hirano, Keigo Kobayashi, Hatsuyo Takaoka, Koichi Nishi, Masaru Nishitsuji, Mayuko Tani, Junya Suzuki, Hiroki Nakatsumi, Hidefumi Koh, Tadashi Manabe, Yohei Funatsu, Fumimaro Ito, Takahiro Fukui, Keisuke Shinozuka, Sumiko Kohashi, Masatoshi Miyazaki, Tomohisa Shoko, Mitsuaki Kojima, Tomohiro Adachi, Motonao Ishikawa, Kenichiro Takahashi, Kazuyoshi Watanabe, Yoshihiro Hirai, Hidetoshi Kawashima, Atsuya Narita, Kazuki Niwa, Yoshiyuki Sekikawa, Hisako Sageshima, Yoshihiko Nakamura, Kota Hoshino, Junichi Maruyama, Hiroyasu Ishikura, Tohru Takata, Takashi Ogura, Hideya Kitamura, Eri Hagiwara, Kota Murohashi, Hiroko Okabayashi, Takao Mochimaru, Shigenari Nukaga, Ryosuke Satomi, Yoshitaka Oyamada, Nobuaki Mori, Tomoya Baba, Yasutaka Fukui, Mitsuru Odate, Shuko Mashimo, Yasushi Makino, Kazuma Yagi, Mizuha Hashiguchi, Junko Kagyo, Tetsuya Shiomi, Kodai Kawamura, Kazuya Ichikado, Kenta Nishiyama, Hiroyuki Muranaka, Kazunori Nakamura, Satoshi Fuke, Hiroshi Saito, Tomoya Tsuchida, Shigeki Fujitani, Mumon Takita, Daiki Morikawa, Toru Yoshida, Takehiro Izumo, Minoru Inomata, Naoyuki Kuse, Nobuyasu Awano, Mari Tone, Akihiro Ito, Toshio Odani, Masaru Amishima, Takeshi Hattori, Yasuo Shichinohe, Takashi Kagaya, Toshiyuki Kita, Kazuhide Ohta, Satoru Sakagami, Kiyoshi Koshida, Morio Nakamura, Koutaro Yokote, Taka-Aki Nakada, Ryuzo Abe, Taku Oshima, Tadanaga Shimada, Kentaro Hayashi, Tetsuo Shimizu, Yutaka Kozu, Hisato Hiranuma, Yasuhiro Gon, Namiki Izumi, Kaoru Nagata, Ken Ueda, Reiko Taki, Satoko Hanada, Naozumi Hashimoto, Keiko Wakahara, Koji Sakamoto, Norihito Omote, Akira Ando, Yu Kusaka, Takehiko Ohba, Susumu Isogai, Aki Ogawa, Takuya Inoue, Nobuhiro Kodama, Yasunari Kaneyama, Shunsuke Maeda, Takashige Kuraki, Takemasa Matsumoto, Masahiro Harada, Takeshi Takahashi, Hiroshi Ono, Toshihiro Sakurai, Takayuki Shibusawa, Yusuke Kawamura, Akiyoshi Nakayama, Hirotaka Matsuo, Yoshifumi Kimizuka, Akihiko Kawana, Tomoya Sano, Chie Watanabe, Ryohei Suematsu, Makoto Masuda, Aya Wakabayashi, Hiroki Watanabe, Suguru Ueda, Masanori Nishikawa, Ayumi Kazuto YoshifujiIto, Saeko Takahashi, Kota Ishioka, Yusuke Chihara, Mayumi Takeuchi, Keisuke Onoi, Jun Shinozuka, Atsushi Sueyoshi, Yoji Nagasaki, Masaki Okamoto, Yoshihisa Tokunaga, Sayoko Ishihara, Masatoshi Shimo, Masafumi Watanabe, Sumito Inoue, Akira Igarashi, Masamichi Sato, Nobuyuki Hizawa, Yoshiaki Inoue, Shigeru Chiba, Kunihiro Yamagata, Hirayasu Kai, Yuji Hiramatsu, Satoru Fukuyama, Keiko Kan-O, Koichiro Matsumoto, Yoshihiro Eriguchi, Akiko Yonekawa, Kensuke Kanaoka, Shoichi Ihara, Kiyoshi Komuta, Koichiro Asano, Tsuyoshi Oguma, Yoko Ito, Satoru Hashimoto, Masaki Yamasaki, Yu Kasamatsu, Yuko Komase, Naoya Hida, Takahiro Tsuburai, Baku Oyama, Yuichiro Kitagawa, Tetsuya Fukuta, Takahito Miyake, Shozo Yoshida, Shinji Ogura, Minoru Takada, Hidenori Kanda, Shinji Abe, Yuta Kono, Yuki Togashi, Hiroyuki Takoi, Ryota Kikuchi, Shinichi Ogawa, Tomouki Ogata, Shoichiro Ishihara, Arihiko Kanehiro, Shinji Ozaki, Yasuko Fuchimoto, Sae Wada, Nobukazu Fujimoto, Kei Nishiyama, Mariko Terashima, Satoru Beppu, Kosuke Yoshida, Osamu Narumoto, Hideaki Nagai, Nobuharu Ooshima, Mitsuru Motegi, Akira Umeda, Kazuya Miyagawa, Hisato Shimada, Mayu Endo, Yoshiyuki Ohira, Hironori Sagara, Akihiko Tanaka, Shin Ohta, Tomoyuki Kimura, Yoko Shibata, Yoshinori Tanino, Takefumi Nikaido, Hiroyuki Minemura, Yuki Sato, Yuichiro Yamada, Takuya Hashino, Masato Shinoki, Hajime Iwagoe, Hiroshi Takahashi, Kazuhiko Fujii, Hiroto Kishi, Tomoo Ishii, Masayuki Kanai, Tomonori Imamura, Tatsuya Yamashita, Masakiyo Yatomi, Toshitaka Maeno, Shinichi Hayashi, Mai Takahashi, Mizuki Kuramochi, Isamu Kamimaki, Yoshiteru Tominaga, Mitsuyoshi Utsugi, Akihiro Ono, Toru Tanaka, Takeru Kashiwada, Kazue Fujita, Yoshinobu Saito, Masahiro Seike, Masahiro Kanai, Ryunosuke Saiki, Yasuhito Nannya, Takayoshi Hyugaji, Eigo Shimizu, Kotoe Katayama, Satoru Miyawaki, Meiko Takahashi, Fumihiko Matsuda, Yosuke Omae, Katsushi Tokunaga, Takafumi Ueno

Affiliations

¹ Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan.
² Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan. [email protected].
³ Department of Infectious Diseases, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan. [email protected].
⁴ Department of Infectious Diseases, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan.
⁵ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
⁷ JCHO (Japan Community Health Care Organization) Saitama Medical Center, Internal Medicine, Saitama, Japan.
⁸ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Saitama Cardiovascular and Respiratory Center, Kumagaya, Japan.
⁹ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁰ Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Kansai Medical University General Medical Center, Moriguchi, Japan.
¹¹ Fukujuji Hospital, Kiyose, Japan.
¹² Department of Internal Medicine, Kawasaki Municipal Ida Hospital, Kawasaki, Japan.
¹³ Department of Infectious Diseases, Tosei General Hospital, Seto, Japan.
¹⁴ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Kitasato University Kitasato Institute Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁵ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
¹⁶ Department of Statistical Genetics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan.
¹⁷ Laboratory for Systems Genetics, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Kanagawa, Japan.
¹⁸ Department of Genome Informatics, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁹ Medical Innovation Promotion Center, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁰ Department of Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
²¹ Institute of Research, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
²² Division of Health Medical Intelligence, Human Genome Center, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
²³ M&D Data Science Center, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
²⁴ Department of Pathology and Tumor Biology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
²⁵ Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

Background: We aimed to elucidate differences in the characteristics of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) requiring hospitalization in Japan, by COVID-19 waves, from conventional strains to the Delta variant.

Methods: We used secondary data from a database and performed a retrospective cohort study that included 3261 patients aged ≥ 18 years enrolled from 78 hospitals that participated in the Japan COVID-19 Task Force between February 2020 and September 2021.

Results: Patients hospitalized during the second (mean age, 53.2 years [standard deviation {SD}, ± 18.9]) and fifth (mean age, 50.7 years [SD ± 13.9]) COVID-19 waves had a lower mean age than those hospitalized during the other COVID-19 waves. Patients hospitalized during the first COVID-19 wave had a longer hospital stay (mean, 30.3 days [SD ± 21.5], p < 0.0001), and post-hospitalization complications, such as bacterial infections (21.3%, p < 0.0001), were also noticeable. In addition, there was an increase in the use of drugs such as remdesivir/baricitinib/tocilizumab/steroids during the latter COVID-19 waves. In the fifth COVID-19 wave, patients exhibited a greater number of presenting symptoms, and a higher percentage of patients required oxygen therapy at the time of admission. However, the percentage of patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation was the highest in the first COVID-19 wave and the mortality rate was the highest in the third COVID-19 wave.

Conclusions: We identified differences in clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in each COVID-19 wave up to the fifth COVID-19 wave in Japan. The fifth COVID-19 wave was associated with greater disease severity on admission, the third COVID-19 wave had the highest mortality rate, and the first COVID-19 wave had the highest percentage of patients requiring mechanical ventilation.

Keywords: COVID-19; Hospitalization; Respiratory infection; Wave of infection.

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Hospitalization
Humans
Middle Aged
Patients
Retrospective Studies
SARS-CoV-2

Supplementary concepts

SARS-CoV-2 variants

Abstract

MeSH terms

Supplementary concepts

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