Clinical Manifestations of Symptomatic COVID-19 Patients in Kabul Province, the Capital of Afghanistan

Abstract

Background: SARS-CoV-2 is a novel member of human coronavirus that is newly identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China. The COVID-19 pandemic has spread to over 213 countries and affected more than 33 million individuals and caused 999000 deaths worldwide.Methods: This cross-sectional study conducted on 124 symptomatic COVID-19 patients in Kabul, Afghanistan. Demographic and clinical data collected using a standard form. Nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab sample collected for viral detection. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics (version 21) software.Results: Out of 124 patients, 88 (71%) were male and 36 (29%) were female. The mean age of patients was 41.2±17.07 years and the majority of patients 32 (25.8%) were in the age group of 20 – 29 and minority 3 (2.4) was over 79 years. On clinical presentation, most patients had ageusia (71.3%), fever (69.4%), headache (69.4%), sore throat (66.1%), myalgia (66.1%), cough (64.5%), weakness (63.7%), dyspnea (38.7%), and the fewer symptom was diarrhea (31.5%). 19 (15.3%) patients had Hypertension, 16 (12.9%) had cardiovascular disease, 8 (6.5%) had diabetes, 5 (4.0%) had cancer, 4 (3.2%) had chronic pulmonary disease, and 3 (2.4%) had liver disease. The mean duration for the presence of symptoms was 13.3±6.3 days. The fatality rate was 4%.Conclusion: Our study reveals that males are more affected by COVID-19 than females and the young generation is more affected than elders. The most common symptoms are ageusia, fever, headache, sore throat, and myalgia, and the less common symptom is diarrhea.