BACKGROUND

We studied the clinical characteristics and outcomes of 905 hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients admitted to Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex (IKHC), Tehran, Iran.

METHODS

COVID-19 patients were recruited based on clinical symptoms and patterns of computed tomography (CT) imaging between February 20 and March 19. All patients were tested for the presence of COVID-19 RNA. The Poisson regression model estimated the incidence rate ratio (IRR) for different parameters.

RESULTS

The average age (± standard deviation) was 56.9 (±15.7) years and 61.77% were male. The most common symptoms were fever (93.59%), dry cough (79.78%), and dyspnea (75.69%). Only 43.76% of patients were positive for the RT-PCR COVID-19 test. Prevalence of lymphopenia was 42.9% and more than 90% had elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) or C-reactive protein (CRP). About 11% were severe cases, and 13.7% died in the hospital. The median length of stay (LOS) was 3 days. We found higher risks of mortality in patients who were older than 70 years (IRR = 11.77, 95% CI 3.63-38.18), underwent mechanical ventilation (IRR = 7.36, 95% CI 5.06-10.7), were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) (IRR = 5.47, 95% CI 4.00-8.38), tested positive on the COVID-19 test (IRR = 2.80, 95% CI 1.64-3.55), and reported a history of comorbidity (IRR = 1.76, 95% CI 1.07-2.89) compared to their corresponding reference groups. Hydroxychloroquine therapy was not associated with mortality in our study.

CONCLUSION

Older age, experiencing a severe form of the disease, and having a comorbidity were the most important prognostic factors for COVID-19 infection. Larger studies are needed to perform further subgroup analyses and verify high-risk groups.