The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is straining global health resources, and the prevalence of severe disease appears to vary across countries. In accordance with PRISMA guidelines, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical features and underlying medical conditions of COVID-19. Eighty-seven studies, involving 1,434,931 COVID-19 patients from the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, were included. Geographically, the rate of severity was highest in Asia (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.23‒0.30). The rates of comorbidities of COVID-19 patients in the Americas were significantly higher than those in Asia. Most Asian patients had fever (95%CI 0.70‒0.81), and most Oceanian patients had cough (95%CI 0.68‒0.70) as their prevalent symptom. Dyspnea was common in the Americas (95%CI 0.33‒0.64), Europe (95%CI 0.29‒0.64), and high latitude regions (95%CI 0.53‒0.82). European patients exhibited significantly high rates of loss of smell and taste (95%CI 0.60–0.97). In low-latitude regions, cancer (95%CI 14.50‒4.89) had the strongest correlation with illness severity. Comorbid diseases and clinical manifestations of severe COVID-19 patients vary substantially between latitudes and longitudes. Region-specific care should be considered to treat and improve the prognosis of COVID-19 patients.
【초록키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus disease, Meta-analysis, Europe, pandemic, Prognosis, severity, Cancer, systematic review, Comorbidity, Symptom, cough, Asia, Prevalence, Region, Health, Fever, Patient, correlation, disease, Care, clinical feature, COVID-19 patients, severe disease, COVID-19 patient, Illness severity, clinical manifestation, Asian, Loss of Smell, 95%CI, 95% confidence interval, treat, America, Americas, MOST, Oceania, resources, regions, European, prevalent, IMPROVE, highest, performed, significantly, exhibited, appear, significantly higher, medical condition, severe COVID-19 patient, 【제목키워드】 review, latitude, Longitude,