EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF CONFIRMED CASES OF COVID-19 IN THE PERIOD FROM APRIL TO MAY 2020 IN THE STATE OF MARANHÃO

Abstract

Brazil was the first South American country to report a confirmed case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), on February 26, 2020, in the state of São Paulo. Maranhão was one of the states in Brazil where the pandemic picked up speed early. Thus, the objective of this study is to report the initial experience regarding the epidemiological and clinical aspects of COVID-19 in the State of Maranhão. This is a cross-sectional study and the data used come from a database provided by the Central Laboratory of the State of Maranhão – LACEN, with the approval of the Research Ethics Committee of the State University of Maranhão according to CAAE: 32171220.0.0000.5087. The initial sample included data from 2,336 individuals, but 646 patients were excluded because they did not contain information about epidemiological data, thus totaling a final sample of 1,690 individuals. For data archiving and statistical analysis, SPSS ® version 25.0 software was used. The final sample consisted of 1690 individuals, of whom 64.9% (n=1098) tested positive for COVID-19, 52.2% (n=882) were women, 82.8% (n=1374) came from the public health sector and 82.3% (n=1400) from the metropolitan region of the state. The highest prevalence of positive cases for COVID-19 was in the state capital, with 86.5% (n=950). It was found that most patients depended directly on the unified health system as a form of priority care, which led to a strong collapse since they were not prepared for the demand arising from the pandemic. Emphasizing the importance of investments in the Unified Health System, as well as the supervision of these resources.