Results
A total of 39 cases reported at the NWGH & RC during the specified
study period. Their mean age was 52(15.8) years and female to male ratio
was 1:1.29 (Males: 43.6% and Females: 56.4%). All patients in the
study developed cough. The next most common symptom was shortness of
breath in 37 patients (95%), followed by fever in 36 (92.3%), chest
pain and sore throat in 31 (79.5%) each, Table 1 .
The different co-morbidities amongst patients and the patients’ outcomes
are presented in Table 2. Hypertension [21 (53.8%)] was
reported as the most common comorbidity followed by diabetes [11
(28.2%)] and chronic kidney disease [3 (7.7%)]. Smoking history
was positive for 3 (7.7%) patients. Amongst all participants, 30
(76.9%) survived and were discharged while 09 (23.1%) passed away
(Table 2 ).
Table 3 presents the results of biochemical analysis performed
on blood samples collected on the day of admission. Mean Hb level was
13.19 (2.12) g/dl. Both the pO2 and pCO2levels were below the normal reference range (<83mmHg and
<40mmHg respectively). CRP [12.84 (9.44) mg/dl], ESR
[45.60 (26.11) mm/1st hour] and Troponin I
[2411.59 (9903.25) ng/l] were also raised above the normal reference
values. Real time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was positive in 36
(92.3%) patients as shown in Figure 1 .
Clinical characteristics were compared between the survivors and
non-survivors (Table 4 ). There was no significant difference
between the age (p=0.8), gender distribution (p=0.6), smoking status
(p=0.5), length of hospital stay (p=0.6) and duration of symptoms
(p=0.2). Comparison of different comorbidities showed that although the
proportion of patients having respiratory failure was higher in
non-survivors than in the survivors, the difference was not
statistically significant [n (%): 9 (100) vs. 21 (70.00), p = 0.1,
respectively). In contrast, the proportion of patients who developed
renal failure (p=0.02, secondary infection (p<0.001) and
septic shock (p=0.03) was significantly higher amongst the non-survivors
compared to that amongst survivors. Furthermore, a significantly higher
proportion of non-survivors required Ionotropic support
(P<0.001) and ventilator support (p=0.001) than the survivors
while a similar proportion of non-survivors and survivors required
oxygen support (p=0.6).