Table 1.
Descriptive summary of the 18 systematic reviews included in the analysis (Adhikari is a scoping review; Mullins et al. is a rapid review)
| Review identification | Journal and IF | Time frame assessed | Databases | Number of included studies | Study design of included studies | Methodological quality assessment | Meta-analysis performed | Patients: total (n) | Mean/Median age of included patients (years) | Male sex (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adhikari et al | Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 3.12 | January 1, 2020 to January 31, 2020 | bioRxiv, medRxiv, chemRxiv, Google Scholar, PubMed, CNKI and WanFang Data; grey literature (online material released by the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and the WHO) | 65 | Cross-sectional, molecular, diagnostic, theoretical and mathematical modeling studies and reviews | N | N | Not reported | Median: 59, ranging from 2 to 89 years, when reported | Most cases were males; 59–68% where reported |
| Borges do Nascimento et al | Journal of Clinical Medicine, 5.688 | January 1, 2019 to February 24, 2020 | MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL (Cochrane Library), Scopus and LILACS | 60 | Case reports, case series and observational studies/epidemiological reports | Y | Y | 59,254 | Not reported; ranging from 3 months to 99 years | 51.92 |
| Cortegiani et al | Journal of Critical Care, 2.783 | Inception up to March 1, 2020 | PubMed and Embase, Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ClinicalTrials.gov, and ICTPR (WHO) | 29 | Narrative letters, in-vitro study, editorial, expert consensus paper, national guideline documents and clinical trialsa | N | N | 3090 | Not reported | Not reported |
| Li B et al. (Prevalence…) | Clinical Research in Cardiology, 4.907 | December 2019 to February 2020 | PubMed, medRxiv and Embase | 6 | Case series and observational studies | N | Y | 1,527 | Median: 49.75 | 57.80; ranging from 44.5 to 77 |
| Li LQ et al. (2019 novel…) | Journal of Medical Virology, 2.049 | December 2019 to February 2020 | PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, WanFang Data, and CNKI | 10. | Case reports, case series and observational studies | Y | Y | 1994 | Median: 49.94 (without one study) | 63.35; ranging from 44.5 to 77 |
| Lippi & Henry (Active smoking…) | European Journal of Internal Medicine, 3.660 | 2019 to March 9, 2020 | MEDLINE (via PubMed interface), Scopus and Web of Science | 5 | Case series and observational studies | N | Y | 1399 | Not reported | More cases |
| Lippi et al. (Cardiac troponin…) | Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 6.162 | 2019 to March 4, 2020 | MEDLINE (via PubMed interface), Scopus and Web of Science | 4 | Observational studies | N | Y | 341 | Not reported | Not rported |
| Lippi & Plebani (Procalcitonin…) | Clinica Chimica Acta, 2.735 | Inception to March 3, 2020 | MEDLINE (PubMed interface), Scopus and Web of Science | 4 | Observational studies | N | Y | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported |
| Lippi et al. (Thrombocyto…) | Clinica Chimica Acta, 2.735 | 2019 to March 6, 2020 | Medline (PubMed interface), Scopus and Web of Science | 9 | Observational studies | N | Y | 1,799 | Not reported | 71.71 |
| Ludvigsson | Acta Pediatrica, 2.265 | January 1, 2020 to March 18, 2020 | MEDLINE (via PubMed interface), Embase and ICTPR | 45 | Case reports, case series and observational studies | N | N | Not summarized | 6.7 (where reported) and newborn infants | 56.6 (where reported) |
| Lupia et al | Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance, 2469 | November 30, 2019 to February 13, 2020 | PubMed and Cochrane Library | 13 | Case reports, case series and observational studies | N | N | 874 | 42.25 (without one study ranging from 19 to 63) | 53.67 |
| Marasinghe | Systematic Review, 1.692 | Inception up to February 2020 | Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar and Scopus | 0 | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Mullins et al | Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology, 5.595 | Inception up to March 10, 2020 | PubMed and MedRxiv | 21 | Case reports or case series | N | N | 62 (32 mothers and 30 newborns) | Median: 30 | Not applicable |
| Pang et al | Journal of Clinical Medicine, 5.688 | December 1, 2019 to February 6, 2020 | PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library | 27 | Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and validation trials | N | N | 656 for SARS-COV-2 | Not reported | Not reported |
| Rodriguez-Morales et al | Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, 4.868 | January 1, 2020 to February 23, 2020 | MEDLINE (via PubMed interface), Scopus and Web of Science | 58 | Case reports, case series and cross-sectional studies | Y | Y (19 studies) | 2874 (19 studies) | Mean: 51.97 | 55.9 |
| Salehi et al | American Journal of Roentgenology, 3.161 | Inception up to February 12, 2020 (updated on February 19, 2020) | PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and the World Health Organization Database | 30 | Case reports and case series | Y | N | 919 | Not reported | Not reported |
| Sun et al | Journal of Medical Virology, 2.049 | Inception up to February 24, 2020 | PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library and additional databases/sources (including the China CDC) | 10 | Case reports, case series and observational studies | Y | Y | 50,466 | Mean: 44.25 | 52.01 |
| Yang et al | International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 3.538 | January 1, 2020 to February 25, 2020 | PubMed, Embase and Web of Science | 7 | Case series and observational studies | N | Y | 1576 | Median: 46.0 | 51.6 |
a Five studies did not fit the classification for study design: one narrative letter, one editorial, one expert consensus paper and two national guideline documents