Clinical and epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of Coronavirus disease-19 patients in a large longitudinal study

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine the clinical and epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of Coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 patients.
Methods: In this large cohort study, 15,409 confirmed patients with the COVID-19 of different severities were followed-up from three specialized COVID-19 hospitals between March 18 and October 11, 2020 in Iraqi Kurdistan. The predictors of mortality and severity were examined in binary logistic regression analysis.
Results: The incidence rate of severe/critical status was 12.3% with a median age of 36.0 and case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.98%. The incidence rate of severe/critical conditions and CFR rose with increased age groups; except for 0–14 years (11.9%). The incidence rate of severe/critical patients and CFR was 8.3% and 0.5%, 21.1% and 4.0%, and 23.7% and 8.7% in 15–49 years, 50–64 years, and 65 and older age groups, respectively. The severity of the disease and CFR was associated with coexisting chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (18.2% and 3.1%) and diabetes mellitus (19.8% and 3.4%). The asymptomatic patients (8400 and 54.5%) had statistically higher CFR; 2.3% versus 1.6% (P = 0.006). The most common symptoms on diagnosis were fever (31.9%), cough (23.5%), loss of smell/taste (16.3%), sore throat (15.7%), shortness of breath (9.8%), and headache (9.5%). The results showed that being older was the only predictor of mortality and severity in COVID-19 patients.
Conclusions: This region has a low incidence of severe-critic status and CFR. The patients with coexisting medical conditions are more likely to have severe conditions and die of COVID-19. The older age predicts severe/critic status and higher CFR.