The Baseline Characteristics of Patients with COVID-19 and Impact of Various Risk Factors on the Outcome of Patients Admitted in Tertiary Care Hospital.
Abstract Background: The outbreak caused by novel coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019 when a new pathogen was discovered from the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of the patient suffering from pneumonia. Globally over 81.47 million confirmed cases and 1.79 million deaths has been reported. The clinical spectrum ranges from mild influenza-like illness to severe life threatening respiratory disease requiring ventilatory support to death. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the baseline carecteristic of the patients and impact of various risk factors on the outcome of patients admitted in tertiary care hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODSStudy Area and Period: This study was conducted at Liaquat University Hospital from April 2020 to September 2020. Study Design: Cross-Sectional Descriptive.Inclusion Criteria: The patients were included on the basis of diagnosis of COVID-19 confirmed on reverse transcription Polymerase Chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Categorical variables such as age, sex, Gram-Covid risk category ,diabetes mellitus, hypertension, renal, pulmonary disease, obesity, outcome of patient were presented as frequency and percentage RESULTS: This study included 235 consecutive patients admitted at Liaquat University Hospital from April 2020 to September 2020. There were 187(79.6%) male and 48(20.4 %) female. The age < 65 years were present in 80 ( 34%) and ≥ 65 155(66%) patients. The most prevalent symptoms were fever ,breathlessness, cough, anorexia, fatigue in all 235(100% ) patients. Severity of illness according to Gram-Covid Score 18 (7.7%) patients were in low-risk group, 93(39.6%) in moderate risk group and 124 (52.8%) in High risk group.There were no risk factors in 121(51.5%) , one risk factor in 49(20.9%), two risk factors in32(13.6%) , three risk factors in 18( 7.7%) and four risk factors in 15(6.4%) patients.The outcome of patients showed 57(24.3%) deaths, 107 (45.5%) patients had prolong stay and 71(30.2%) patients recovered. A strong relationship was observed between the outcome of patient with age, number of risk factors, severity of illness according to gram - Covid score whereas insignificant relationship with the sex of patients.Conclusion: COVID-19 patients clinically present with fever, cough and breathlessness. Majority of patients present with moderate to high severity. Patient with advanced age, high risk on gram-Covid score with multiple comorbidities are particularly susceptible to adverse outcome.