Background: The COVID -19 pandemic spread rapidly across the globe, making a land-fall on the Nigerian geo-space in early 2020. Key presenting features were; fever, dry cough, fatigue, myalgia, headache, sore-throat, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dyspnoea amongst others, with a clinical spectrum ranging from mild through severe forms. Aside infection control and supportive care, there was no specific therapy until trials with Remdesivir. Studies have described limited epidemiological findings, presentations and outcomes of COVID patients in Nigeria and elsewhere, but not for the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) specifically Abuja, the Nation's capital city and the second epicenter of the pandemic in Nigeria. The objective of this study therefore, was to describe the Clinical and demographic characteristics of the patients admitted at the Asokoro District Hospital (ADH), Abuja.
Methods: Retrospective study that used records of patients admitted, between April and September 2020. Data include; Socio-demographics, medical history, exposure, residential area, co-morbidities, symptoms, signs, treatment measures, duration of hospital stay and outcomes.
Results: 270 patients were enrolled for this study. 170(63%) males and 100(37%) females. Mean age was 40.03+13.5years. Forty-one(15.2%) had travel history while 99(36.7%) had contact with confirmed cases. Majority of the patients were married(63.33%), and had tertiary education(74.82%). Commonest symptoms were cough(43.33%), fever(36.67%), headaches(32.22%) and fatigue(31.48%). The duration of stay at the ADH ranged from 2 hours to 28 days.
Conclusion: Our patients were young, mainly of the upper class, educated people with mild to severe disease. There was one death, a case with multiple comorbid factors.
Keywords: Abuja-Nigeria; COVID patients; Socio-demographics; clinical features; outcomes.
