Clinical and laboratory features of COVID-19 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 versus those infected with other SARS-CoV-2 strains: A retrospective observational study

Objective: To investigate the clinical symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with and without B.1.1.7 mutation. Methods: This retrospective observational study included COVID-19 patients who were divided into two groups, the mutation and the non-mutation group. Demographics characteristics, clinical characteristics, laboratory parameters, and mortality rates were recorded and compared between the two groups. Results: A total of 196 patients were included in the study. The relationship between the mutant virus status and sex, age, comorbidity, survival status, and disease severity was not significant (P>0.05). No significant differences were found in duration of hospitalization between the mutation and the non-mutation group (P>0.05). However, there was a statistically significant difference between patients with and without mutant viruses in hemoglobin, mean platelet volume, procalcitonin, low density lipoprotein, ironbinding capacity, potassium, calcium, C-reactive protein, folate, creatine kinase myocardial band, D-dimer, and international normalized ratio (P<0.05). Conclusions: No significant difference is found in mortality rate, disease severity or duration of hospitalization between the patients with and without variant B.1.1.7. Careful monitoring of COVID-19 patients is required for all variants.