Epidemiological outcome of COVID-19 among confirmed cases admitted to Guder Primary Hospital, Central Ethiopia

A cohort study of ten-months

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is a highly transmittable and pathogenic viral infection that emerged in Wuhan, China and spread around the world. Limited evidence is available about the epidemiological, clinical features, and outcomes of admitted cases in the Western part of Oromia Region, Ethiopia. This study was conducted to provide insight into the epidemiological outcome of confirmed COVID-19 cases admitted to Guder Primary Hospital in West Oromia Zone, Central Ethiopia.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, patient data for all confirmed cases of COVID-19 admitted to Guder Primary Hospital from May 16 to December 31, 2020 were obtained from the positive track excel database available in the hospital and supplemented by reviewing medical records. Cases were confirmed by Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics. A Chi-squared test was used to see the strength of association between clinical outcomes and other categorical variables.

Results: A total of 260 confirmed COVID-19 cases including 180 men and 80 women were admitted. Of these cases, 184 (70.8%) were asymptomatic at admission. The median age of the patients was 31 years with an interquartile range of 20 years. Adults aged 15 and above years accounted for 254 (97.7%).  Meantime in the hospital was 14.3 [SD: 3] days. The frequent symptom was cough (43[16.5%]). The case fatality rate among the admitted cases was 12 (4.6%). Of these deaths, seven (58.3%) were females aged 45-59 years, and eight had known comorbidities.

Conclusion: The COVID-19 infection has affected more adult males and death was common in females with comorbidities during the first ten months in the study area. The disease remains largely asymptomatic among the admitted cases. Therefore, mitigation strategies should give emphasis to treatment centers to avert morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19. Further study is needed to explore the risk of mortality and its determinants among admitted cases.