Clinical and Laboratory Characteristics of COVID-19 Infection in Patients Presenting to A Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

<p><strong>Background and Objective:</strong> COVID-19 disease is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) having a wide variety of clinical features ranging from asymptomatic carriers to respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. The objective of the study was to analyze the spectrum of different symptoms, laboratory findings and complications in patients who were admitted in either COVID ward or intensive care unit (ICU) of a local hospital.</p>
 <p><strong>Methods:</strong> A retrospective cohort study of the medical records of 100 COVID-19 disease patients with PCR detected SARS-CoV-2 infection were collected. Participant information was retrospectively obtained from the hospital medical records which included clinical records and laboratory findings. All statistical analyses were done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.</p>
 <p><strong>Results:</strong> The mean age of the patients was 50.8 ±5.86 with male predominance (79%). Most frequent co-morbidities were diabetes mellitus (42%) and hypertension (36%). Most frequent symptoms were fever (95.9%) and fatigue (95.9%) followed by dry cough (86.5%), myalgia (85.1) and shortness of breath (70%). Amongst the patients admitted, leukocyte count was 10.95 x 10<sup>3</sup>, C-reactive protein (CRP) was 12.8mg/dl, ferritin was 730.8ng/ml and Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) was found to be 1254.7 U/l. Hepatic and renal functions were borderline deranged.</p>
 <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> COVID-19 disease has a wide spectrum of clinical symptoms. Patients with raised inflammatory markers have severe disease and are more likely in need of an ICU care. By carefully observing these markers may help in better management of COVID-19 disease.</p>

Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns of Bacteria Associated with Sepsis among Hospitalized Patients in the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital—Cameroon

“…This observation is in agreement with earlier studies [11] [17]. On the contrary, septicaemia of polymicrobial aetiology has been found in other studies [22] [23].…”

Correlation of various co-morbidities of COVID-19 patients with persistent COVID-19 PCR positivity: A prospective study at Nishtar Hospital Multan.

“…The median age of the study population was 48.0 years (IQR 35.0-62.0, range, from 18.0-90.0 years), and 128 patients (44.9%) were men, which was nearly consistent with the study. 13 Regarding the prevalence of co-morbidities, our study population had 62% hypertensive, 36% diabetics, and 19 % were with lung disease. A study done by Batool et al 14 had 42% of diabetics, which is slightly higher, that can be due to the rural area of our study which has more physically active adults and their study area was the urban population.…”

Antibiotic Susceptibility Surveillance in the Punjab Province of Pakistan: Findings and Implications

“…The study was approved by the Human Ethics Committee of the College of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan (BZU- DEPP-22-830-1005It), with subsequent approval among participating hospitals. The study adheres to the guidelines set forth in the Declaration of Helsinki [ 71 ], good clinical practice (GCP) and relevant regulatory requirements.…”