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Clinical characteristics of 113 deceased patients with coronavirus disease 2019: retrospective study

BMJ 2020; 368 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1091 (Published 26 March 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;368:m1091

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Re: Clinical characteristics of 113 deceased patients with coronavirus disease 2019: retrospective study

Dear Editor

The main results of this paper as presented in table 4 are hard to understand.

For instance, in the colum under deaths, the complication of type 1 respiratory failure is reported as 18/35 (51). Clearly, and as stated in the legend, 18 is 51% of 35. What is not clear is what the denominator of 35 refers to. Is it a subset of the type 1 respiratory failure totals reported as: 18/67 (27)?

Without this information the result lacks meaning. Clarification is called for.

Competing interests: No competing interests

11 April 2020
paul warren
none
Sheffield, U.K.