Demographic and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients in West Mazandaran hospitals

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a life-threatening factor worldwide. Identifying the characteristics of the affected population helps to identify risk factors and determine more effective treatment goals. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the demographic characteristics and clinical symptoms of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in West Mazandaran hospitals.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 758 patients admitted to the COVID care unit using the census method. The research population was all COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the internal wards, intensive care unit, and ward 550 (for COVID-19 patients) of hospitals from February 13 to May 20, 2021. Data were collected from the care monitoring center and using a demographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tests through SPSS 22.

Totally, 52.1% and 47.9% of COVID-19 patients were men and women, respectively. The mean and standard deviation of patients' age were 59.77 ±18.22 years. The most common clinical signs were fever (53.7%) and cough (46.3%). There was a statistically significant relationship between contracting COVID-19 and presence of immune-mediated diseases associated with cancer (p=0.0001), diabetes (p=0.008), immune system diseases (p=0.001), heart disease (p=0.0001) and hypertension (p=0.0001) in the studied patients based on treatment outcome (discharge and death).

Old age and underlying diseases put people at higher risk for COVID-19. It is recommended that these people should be given more attention.