Characteristics and Risk Factors of Hospitalized and Nonhospitalized COVID-19 Patients, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, March–April 2020

Abstract

I nformation about care-seeking behavior, symp- tom duration, and risk factors for progression to severe illness in nonhospitalized patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) aids in resource planning, disease identifi cation, risk stratifi cation, and clinical management of nonhospitalized patients (1-6). We built on a previous analysis comparing hospitalized and nonhospitalized CO-VID-19 patients, which found that hospitalized patients were more likely to be >65 years of age, men, Black, diabetic, or obese (7). We describe symptom patterns, duration of illness, and care-seeking behavior among nonhospitalized patients and explore the relationships between hospitalization and the number, control, and interaction of concurrent medical conditions and age. We defi ned control as how well a disease is managed in the patient, as measured by hemoglobin A1c levels in diabetics, number of classes of hypertension medication being taken by patients with hypertension, and BMI among patients with obesity.