The Pan African Medical Journal (Jan 2021)

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of 646 hospitalised SARS-Cov-2 positive patients in Rivers State Nigeria: a prospective observational study

  • Datonye Alasia,
  • Golden Owhonda,
  • Omosivie Maduka,
  • Ifeoma Nwadiuto,
  • Godswill Arugu,
  • Charles Tobin-West,
  • Esther Azi,
  • Victor Oris-Onyiri,
  • Inwon Joseph Urang,
  • Victor Abikor,
  • Ayo-Maria Olofinuka,
  • Obelebra Adebiyi,
  • Abiye Somiari,
  • Hope Avundaa,
  • Alali Aloni

DOI
https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2021.38.25.26755
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 38, no. 25

Abstract

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INTRODUCTION: the knowledge of epidemiologic and clinical variables in patients with SARS- CoV-2 infection provides evidence and lessons that are useful for the pandemic response, with consideration of National and sub-National variations. The objective of this study was to characterize and describe the clinical and epidemiologic features of all the hospitalised patients with COVID-19 in Rivers State Nigeria, from March to August 2020. METHODS: a prospective descriptive multi-center study of patients with positive SARS-CoV-2 RT PCR, who were hospitalised for treatment and self-isolation in four treatment centers in Rivers state, Nigeria. RESULTS: the mean age of all the patients was 39.21 ± 12.31 years, with a range of 2 to 77 years. The majority of patients were in the 31 to 40-year (33.0%), 41 to 50-year (23.1%) and 18-to 30-year (22.0%) age groups. The patient population included 474 (73.4%) males and 172 (26.6%) females, with 93 (14.4%) healthcare workers. A history of contact and travel was established in 38.5% and at least one comorbid disease condition was present in 32.8% of patients. Patients with severe disease were 61 (9.45%), while the overall case fatality rate was 2%. The leading comorbid disease conditions were Hypertension in 23.8% and diabetes in 7.7% of patients. Fever (26.0%), dry Cough (17.6%), dyspnoea (12.7%), anosmia (12.7%) and headache (9.9%) were the most common symptoms. The presence of comorbidity and increasing age predicted death from COVID-19. CONCLUSION: the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of this cohort of hospitalised patients show significant similarities with existing trends from previously reported studies, with contextual peculiarities.

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