THE SYMPTOMS AND CO-MORBIDITIES OF COVID-19 PATIENTS AT HOME ISOLATION IN INDIA

Abstract

Indian Government has issued the guidelines on home isolation for very mild/pre-symptomatic COVID-19 cases based on a proposal of the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. This has originated when COVID-19 designated hospitals started to shift asymptomatic and stable patients to quarantine facilities to reserve beds for those in need of treatment. To determine the prevalence of symptoms and co-morbidities of COVID-19 positive patients at home isolation OPD. This cross-sectional study was conducted at a designated COVID-19 tertiary care hospital in Pune, India, which had included all COVID-19 positive patients enrolled for the home isolation care from the 15th July to 15th August 2020. There were total 639 adults out of which 362 were males and 277 females. The most common presenting symptom present in 49.4% cases was fever. Hypertension was the most prevalent comorbidity noticed in 10% of patients followed by Diabetes in 6.7%. The maximum time lag of positive COVID-19 test to registration for home isolation OPD of 8 days was observed in only 1 patient. The significant association was seen between symptom of fever with the adults (males) and in the age group of 31-50 years(p<0.05). Home isolation could be considered a classic model for COVID19 patients in resource constrained situation. Home isolation can substantially reduce health care expenses for the asymptomatic and mild symptomatic COVID-19 multitude.

Keywords

• covid-19
• home isolation
• co-morbidities