Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32661509›Full record

ArticleAging medicine (Milton (N.S.W))2020

Longer incubation period of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in older adults.

Tak-Kwan Kong

Erratum issuedOpen access · diamondAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Aging medicine (Milton (N.S.W)), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 31 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
31citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
2.5field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

31 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 82 citations in OpenAlex.

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  9. COVID-19 in one region of New Zealand: a descriptive epidemiological study.Australian and New Zealand journal of public health · 2022
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Tak-Kwan KongDepartment of Medicine & Therapeutics Prince of Wales Hospital The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4340-7479
Chinese University of Hong Kong · HK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThe aim of this study was to explore any age-related change in the incubation period of COVID-19, specifically any difference between older (aged ≥65 years) and younger adults.

methodsBased on online data released officially by 21 Chinese cities from January 22 to February 15, 2020, the incubation period of COVID-19 patients who had travelled to Hubei was studied according to age. Previous studies were reviewed and compared.

resultsThe study recruited 136 COVID-19 patients who had travelled to Hubei during January 5-31, 2020, stayed for 1-2 days, and returned with symptom onset during January 10-February 6, 2020. The median age was 50.5 years (range 1-86 years), and 22 patients (16.2%) were aged ≥65 years. The age-stratified incubation period was U-shaped with higher values at extremes of age. The median COVID-19 incubation period was 8.3 (90% confidence interval [CI], 7.4-9.2) days for all patients, 7.6 (90% CI, 6.7-8.6) days for younger adults, and 11.2 (90% CI, 9.0-13.5) days for older adults. The 5th/25th/75th/90th percentiles were 2.3/5.3/11.3/14.2 days for all, 2.0/5.0/10.5/13.2 days for younger adults, and 3.1/7.8/14.4/17.0 days for older adults. There were 11 published studies on COVID-19 incubation periods up to March 30, 2020, reporting means of 1.8-7.2 days, and medians of 4-7.5 days, but there was no specific study on the effect of age on incubation period. One study showed that severe COVID-19 cases, which included more elderly patients, had longer incubation periods.

conclusionBased on 136 patients with a travel history to Hubei, the epicenter of COVID-19, the COVID-19 incubation period was found to be longer in older adults. This finding has important implications for diagnosis, prevention, and control of COVID-19.

Indexed as

COVID‐19incubation periodolder adults

Identifiers

PMID32661509
PMCPMC7280705
OpenAlexW3027434667

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.