Risk Factors and Prognosis; An Effort to Predict the Severity of COVID-19

Up to this time, screening for people infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) relies on clinical symptoms. As a result, our study focused on establishing a relationship between clinical manifestations, risk factors, and the prognosis of COVID-19 for prompt intervention. This cross-sectional study was performed on patients with positive COVID-19 tests in Shiraz, Iran, from 2020 through 2021. Patients were randomly selected from those registered as COVID-19 positive in various family clinics affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences Health Centers. A telephone interview was conducted to gather necessary data about the clinical symptoms of 401 patients, their risk factors, and their prognosis of the disease in two weeks. Body pain, followed by fever, were the most reported symptoms. Except for dyspnea that was related to hospitalization, no relation was found between initial clinical symptoms and hospitalization or 2-week recovery. We observed a statistically significant difference between different blood groups of patients concerning their rate of hospitalization and recovery after two weeks. A significant relationship between hypertension and hospitalization was seen. Body pain, fever, certain demographic aspects (such as older age), and comorbidities like hypertension showed strong associations with the severity and prognosis of COVID-19. Our results add to the growing body of evidence suggesting blood type may play a role in the prognosis of COVID-19.