Publication:

Characteristics of patients infected with SARS COVID-19 admitted at COVID health facilities in one of the aspirational district of India: a retrospective study

Background COVID-19 is the third corona virus that has emerged among the human population in the last two decades. The main aim of this study was to describe the epidemiologic features, clinical presentation of first 52 patients diagnosed with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted at COVID health facilities.

Methods A retrospective descriptive study was conducted over a period of three months from 1st April 2020 to 30th June 2020. We obtained demographic, epidemiological, clinical, laboratory data from the medical records of patients infected with SARS-Cov-2. The categorical variables were expressed in terms of frequency and percentages and the continuous variables were expressed as mean and standard deviation. In addition to descriptive analysis, Pearson’s chi- square test was applied to ascertain the associations between certain variables.

Results The mean age of participants was 29±11.67 years with a male preponderance. Forty three (83%) patients had travel history within India in the previous 30 days i.e. from Delhi (35%), Haryana (15%), Tamilnadu (11%), Himachal Pradesh (8%), Maharashtra (1.9%), Punjab (8%), and Uttar Pradesh (4%). Majority of the patients (90%) were asymptomatic. The age group of 21-30 years was the most affected group (44%) as comparison to the other age groups. No mortality was reported and 100% recovery rate was found.

Conclusions In conclusion, COVID-19 affects a wide-range of patients, from youth to the elderly.  In this study, all the COVID-19 infected patients were classified as mild as most were asymptomatic. Close monitoring and large-scale control strategies will be needed to prevent widespread transmission within the community.