Quantifying the Impact of Treatments on the Recovery of COVID-19 Patients in Twin Cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2. It emerged in Wuhan, China and spread all over the world. Therapeutic effectiveness of different drugs and vaccines used to control the disease has been tested globally. Physicians in Pakistan have also used readily available drugs and antibiotics to combat COVID-19 infection. This study aims to examine the association between the various states of patients (recovered or dead) and different variables including age, gender, and the treatment provided. Lastly, it assesses the odds of recovery of patients corresponding to various treatment groups. The study was conducted retrospectively on patients admitted to major hospitals in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan from February 2020 to August 2020. The patients were categorized based on the treatment provided and the medicines prescribed. The sensitivity analysis of the data revealed that the outliers were distorting the results. Therefore, further evaluations were made using non-parametric tests to handle the outliers. Pearson’s chi-square test was employed to find the association between the state of patients’ recovery corresponding to their age and sex. The results showed no association between the gender of patients and their state of recovery, while the age of patients was found to be related to their state of recovery. Also, a significant association was found between the state of recovery of patients and their prescribed treatment.

Keywords

• age
• antibiotics
• COVID-19
• gender
• treatment