Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of Deceased COVID-19 Patients

• Published in: International journal of general medicine 2021-01, Vol.14, p.3809-3819
• Main Authors: Badedi, Mohammed, Darraj, Hussain, Alnami, Awaji Qasem, Makrami, Ali, Mahfouz, Mohamed Salih, Alhazmi, Khalid, Mahmoud, Nahid, Mosa, Halimh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute respiratory distress syndrome; Age; Aspartate; Blood; Blood groups; Body mass index; Cardiovascular disease; China; Chronic kidney failure; Comorbidity; Comparative analysis; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; deaths; Diabetes; Dyspnea; Electrocardiography; Ferritin; Health aspects; Heart diseases; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Hypertension; Kidney diseases; Length of stay; Medical examination; Medical laboratories; Mortality; Original Research; Respiratory failure; sars-cov-2; Saudi Arabia; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Survival analysis
• ISSN: 1178-7074; 1178-7074
• DOI: 10.2147/IJGM.S320713

Objective: Fatalities due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continue to increase, and information on the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of deceased patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 is limited in the Arab region. The current study aimed to address this gap. Methods: Three hundred and four Saudi patients in Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia, who died after being hospitalized with COVID-19 between July 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020, were analyzed in this retrospective cohort study. Results: A greater proportion of male patients (59%), compared to female patients (41%), died due to COVID-19. Just over half (55%) of the deaths due to COVID-19 affected patients aged [greater than or equal to]65 years. More than two-thirds of the deceased COVID-19 patients had diabetes (70%) and hypertension (69%); other comorbidities were obesity (30%), heart disease (30%), and chronic kidney disease (14%). Dyspnea (91%), cough (80%), and fever (70%) were the most frequently reported clinical symptoms. Eighty-five per cent of COVID-19 deaths occurred in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), and 90% of the patients required mechanical ventilation. Typically, lymphopenia, and neutrophilia were observed on admission and 24 hours prior to death. Creatinine and serum ferritin levels and erythrocyte sedimentation rate and D-dimer plasma levels increased significantly following infection with COVID-19. Lung infiltrates and pulmonary opacity (83%) were the most common findings on chest X-ray. Respiratory failure (70%) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (52%) were the leading complications to death. Logistic and Cox regression revealed that a higher age, smoking, high creatinine and aspartate transaminase levels, and respiratory failure were significantly associated with the risk of mortality during the early stay in hospitals. Conclusion: The proportion of comorbidities was high in deceased patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. A higher age, smoking, and respiratory failure were significant predictors of mortality during the early stay in hospitals. Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, deaths, mortality