Clinical and biochemical profile of COVID-19 patients admitted in a tertiary care hospital in Visakhapatnam, India during post unlock 2.0 – a retrospective study

Abstract

There have been more than 31378143 confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in India. It was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. Because the risk of severe COVID-19 is not consistent across all individuals, uncertainty is linked to disease development. COVID-19 results have been related to systemic inflammation as a predictor. In COVID-19, increased levels of inflammatory markers have been associated with cytokine storm, coagulopathy, and endothelial dysfunction. A significant amount of research suggests that these results have a role in the cause of death in individuals suffering from a severe form of COVID-19. We aim to show our experience of COVID-19 at GITAM Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (GIMSR), Visakhapatnam. We analyzed data on 558 patients admitted to our dedicated COVID hospital during post unlock (UL) 2.0 in India from August 2 to August 31, 2020. The mean age was 43.65 years; 69% of them were male. Using MoHFW India severity guidelines, 68.10% were mild, 18.64% were moderate, and 13.26% were severe cases. Fatigue (66.13%) was the most common complaint, followed by anosmia (63.80%), fever (57.53%), diarrhea (56.09%), shortness of breath (22.40%), and others. The most common preexisting comorbidity seen in our patients was diabetes mellitus and hypertension, respectively. Laboratory parameters revealed mean hemoglobin of 13.04±1.91 gm/dl, mean total leukocyte count of 7378.49±3229 cells/cumm, mean platelet count of 2.3±0.8 lakhs/cumm, mean erythrocyte sediment rate of 40±30 mm/hr, mean ferritin level of 335.96 ng/ml, mean D-dimer level of 794.88 ng/ml and mean CRP of 23.27 mg/l. Severity was associated with higher age, symptomatic presentation, elevated leucocytes, and elevated inflammatory markers.