Determining Clinical Features & Treatment Outcomes of SARSCoV-2 Infected and Hospitalized Patients in Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is not well studied in Ethiopia, especially in the eastern parts of the country. Determining the clinical profile and treatment outcome of COVID-19 cases will help to plan better prevention and treatment strategies considering the local context. So, this study attempted to investigate and describe the Clinical characteristics and outcomes among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methodology: Institutional based retrospective study design was used. The data extraction tool was prepared by using the COVID-19 log-book template and data was collected from 2091 COVID-19 confirmed patients using RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) testing method who were admitted at three COVID-19 treatment centers from 21-May-2020 to 02-Aug-2021. Data was entered in Epi-data version 3.2 and analysis was done by SPSS version 25.0. Descriptive statistics proportions, percentages, ratios, frequency distributions, measures of central tendency, and dispersion were used. The result was presented in thefigure and table. Result: A total of 2019 patients were analyzed. In this study majority, 1309 (62.6%) of patients were male and the age ranges of patients were from 8 months up to 100 years with a mean age of 33 years and the most predominant age groups were less than 30 years. Around a quarter of 478 (22.9%) patients were symptomatic and the three most common symptoms manifested were cough 437 (20.9%), shortness of breath 210 (10%), and generalized body weakness 206 (9.9%). The prevalence of comorbidity was 105 (5%), of which DM 37 (1.8%), Hypertension 22 (1.1%) and CVD 15 (0.7%) were the most common. In this study 1992 (95.3%) of COVID-19 patients were recovered and 77 (3.7%) died. Conclusion: This institutional-based COVID-19 register review showed that the most common clinical manifestation were cough, shortness of breath, and generalized body weakness and among the admitted patients male accounts for the lion shares of the number. Majority of patients were asymptomatic this will increase asymptomatic transmission in the community, thus effort community mass screening intervention is important.