Abstract
Background
COVID-19 is a rapidly emerging global health threat and economic disaster. The epidemiology and outcomes of COVID-19 patients in Ethiopia are scarce. Thus, the present study aimed to assess clinical profiles, epidemiological characteristics, and treatment outcomes of patients with COVID-19 and to identify determinants of the disease outcome among COVID-19 patients in North-eastern Ethiopia.
Methods
A retrospective observational cohort study was conducted in North-eastern Ethiopia, from May 2020 to Jan 2022 on a total of 364 SARS-COV-2 infected patients. Demographic and clinical data were abstracted from the medical records of patients. Bivariable and multivariable analyses were conducted to determine the factors associated with the mortality of COVID-19 patients and variables with a P-value < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Result
Among 364 COVID-19 patients included in this study, two-thirds (68.1%) were males with a median age of 34 years. The majority; 42.9% & 33.0% respectively cases were detected at the health facility and community level surveillance. Furthermore, 6.6% of patients had pre-existing comorbidities of which diabetes mellitus (23.1%) and hypertension (15.3%) had the highest frequency. The symptomatic rate of COVID-19 patients was 30.5%. The most common clinical presentations were cough (26.9%), fever (26.1%), and shortness of breath (15.2%). Moreover, the mortality rate of COVID-19 patients was 4.1% which was independently predicted by a history of underlining co-morbidity (AHR:6.09; 95%CI:1.299–28.56; P = 0.022) and a history of severe or critical conditions (AHR 11.8; 95%CI:4.89–28.83; P = 0.003).
Conclusion
Severe or critical acute COVID-19 and underlining comorbidities are associated with higher mortality. Therefore, critical follow–up and management should be given to patients with underlying diseases is required.
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Reference37 articles.
1. WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/region/afro/country/et (accessed 18 March 2023).
2. SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;JH Kempen;Am J Trop Med Hyg,2020
3. World Health Organization declares global emergency: A review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19).;C Sohrabi;Int J Surg,2020
4. Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China;W-J Guan;N Engl J Med,2020