Investigating the related factors with the severity of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients: A cross-sectional study in Semnan, Iran

Identifying the factors affecting the severity of a disease can lead to the adoption of purposeful preventive and therapeutic actions, and subsequently improve health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the related demographic and underlying factors with the severity of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized at Kowsar Hospital of Semnan, Iran. The study tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose content validity was confirmed by a committee of ten experts with content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI) scores equal to 0.92 and 0.89, respectively. The systematic random sampling method was used in this study, and the required data were collected by reviewing medical records and conducting interviews with patients. All analyses were performed using SPSS19, and P<0.05 was considered significant.

The mean age of patients was 56.20 (±59.77) years, and women (53%) and men (47%) had a relatively similar share. Among the patients, 24% were hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) and 7% experienced coma. Also, 99% of patients suffered from serious COVID-19 complications. The rates of pulmonary, cardiovascular, and renal complications were 96%, 68%, and 6%, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the severity of disease with such variables as age, education level, employment status, being native, place of receiving care, previous heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, immunodeficiency, obesity, and physical activity or a job requiring physical activity (P<0.05).

The study results showed that a wide range of demographic factors, access to health care, health-seeking behaviors, having an underlying disease, and having a healthy lifestyle are related to the severity of COVID-19.