International Journal of General Medicine (Jul 2021)

Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of Deceased COVID-19 Patients

  • Badedi M,
  • Darraj H,
  • Alnami AQ,
  • Makrami A,
  • Mahfouz MS,
  • Alhazmi K,
  • Mahmoud N,
  • Mosa H

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 3809 – 3819

Abstract

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Mohammed Badedi,1 Hussain Darraj,1 Awaji Qasem Alnami,1 Ali Makrami,1 Mohamed Salih Mahfouz,2 Khalid Alhazmi,2 Nahid Mahmoud,1 Halimh Mosa1 1General Directorate of Health Affairs, Jazan, Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia; 2Jazan University, Jazan, Jazan Region, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Mohammed Badedi Email [email protected]: 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 ≥ 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

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