Background: Brazil became the epicenter of the COVID-19 epidemic in a brief period of a few months after the first officially registered case. The knowledge of the epidemiological/clinical profile and the risk factors of Brazilian COVID-19 patients can assist in the decision making of physicians in the implementation of early and most appropriate measures for poor prognosis patients. However, these reports are missing. Here we present a comprehensive study that addresses this demand.
Methods: This data-driven study was based on the Brazilian Ministry of Health Database (SIVEP-Gripe, 2020) regarding notified cases of hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the period from February 26 to August 10, 2020. Demographic data, clinical symptoms, comorbidities and other additional information of patients were analyzed.
Results: The hospitalization rate was higher for male gender (56.56%) and for older age patients of both sexes. Overall, the mortality rate was quite high (41.28%) among hospitalized patients, especially those over 60 years of age. Most prevalent symptoms were cough, dyspnoea, fever, low oxygen saturation and respiratory distress. Heart disease, diabetes, obesity, kidney disease, neurological disease, and pneumopathy were the most prevalent comorbidities. A high prevalence of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with heart disease (65.7%) and diabetes (53.55%) and with a high mortality rate of around 50% was observed. The ICU admission rate was 39.37% and of these 62.4% died. 24.4% of patients required invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), with high mortality among them (82.98%). The main mortality risk predictors were older age and IMV requirement. In addition, socioeconomic conditions have been shown to significantly influence the disease outcome, regardless of age and comorbidities.
Conclusion: Our study provides a comprehensive overview of the hospitalized Brazilian COVID-19 patients profile and the mortality risk factors. The analysis also evidenced that the disease outcome is influenced by multiple factors, as unequally affects different segments of population.