Abstract: Abstract: Objective To analyze clinical characteristics in patients died of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and provide experience for guiding clinical treatment and evaluating prognosis. Methods Data of 73 dead cases of the COVID-19 admitted to our hospital from January to March 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The clinical data included general data, underlying disease, complication, biochemical laboratory examination, imaging examination and therapeutic methods. The clinical characteristics related to death were analyzed. Results In 73 COVID-19 patients, fever was often the first symptom. Fifty-two cases (71.2%) were over 60 years old. Forty-seven cases (64.4%) had underlying diseases,in which diabetes ranked first, followed by hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was the main complication of the dead, which occurred in 54 cases (74.0%). Biochemical laboratory tests showed that continuing decline of the lymphocytes and p(O2), the increase of the D-Dimer, C-reactive protein, aspartate transaminase, urea nitrogen and creatinne, which indicated that the COVID-19 can cause multiple organ dysfunction. The main imaging features of the dead cases were the ground glass changes of the lungs with multi-lobes or multifocal change and rapid progress. For patients with refractory hypoxemia, the mechanical ventilation was not effective. Conclusion The death cases of the COVID-19 are characterized by epidemiology, clinical manifestation, laboratory examination and pulmonary imaging. Fully recognizing its characteristics is conducive to the early intervention and improvement of prognosis.

Key words: coronavirus, pneumonia, viral, death, coronavirus disease 2019