Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Scientific Researcher, Federal Ministry of Health, Khartoum, Sudan.
Libyan J Med. 2021 Dec;16(1):1910195. doi: 10.1080/19932820.2021.1910195.
The outbreak of corona virus disease (COVID-19) caused by the new severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 began in Wuhan, China, resulting in respiratory disorders. In January of 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic owing to its global spread. Because no studies have investigated COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia, this study investigated similarities and differences between demographic data during the COVID-19 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreaks in Saudi Arabia. A retrospective trend analysis was performed to assess demographic data of all laboratory-confirmed MERS and COVID-19 cases. Patients' charts were reviewed for data on demographics, mortality, citizenship, sex ratio, and age groups with descriptive and comparative statistics; the data were analyzed using a non-parametric binomial test and chi-square test. Of all COVID-19 patients in Saudi Arabia,78%were male patients and 22% were female patients. This proportion of male COVID-19 patients was similar to that of male MERS patients, which also affected male patients more frequently than female patients. The number of COVID-19-positive Saudi cases was lower than that of non-Saudi cases, which were in contrast to that of MERS; COVID-19 appeared to be remarkably similar to MERS with respect to recovered cases. However, the numbers of critical and dead COVID-19 patients have been much lower than those of MERS patients. The largest proportion of COVID-19 and MERS cases (44.05% and 40.8%, respectively) were recorded in the Western region. MERS and COVID-19 exhibited similar threats to the lives of adults and the elderly, despite lower mortality rates during the COVID-19 epidemic. Targeted prevention of and interventions against MERS should be allocated populations according to the areas where they inhabit. However, much more information regarding the dynamics and epidemiology of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia is needed. : MERS: Middle East Respiratory syndrome; COVID-19: Corona Virus Disease 2019.
新型严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒 2 引起的冠状病毒病（COVID-19）爆发始于中国武汉，导致呼吸系统疾病。2020 年 1 月，世界卫生组织因 COVID-19 在全球范围内传播而宣布其为大流行。由于沙特阿拉伯没有研究 COVID-19，因此本研究调查了 COVID-19 和沙特阿拉伯中东呼吸综合征（MERS）爆发期间人口统计学数据的异同。对所有实验室确诊的 MERS 和 COVID-19 病例进行回顾性趋势分析。对患者的图表进行审查，以获取有关人口统计学、死亡率、公民身份、性别比和年龄组的数据，采用描述性和比较性统计数据进行分析；使用非参数二项式检验和卡方检验对数据进行分析。在沙特阿拉伯的所有 COVID-19 患者中，78%为男性患者，22%为女性患者。这种 COVID-19 男性患者的比例与男性 MERS 患者相似，MERS 也比女性患者更频繁地影响男性患者。COVID-19 阳性沙特病例的数量低于非沙特病例，而 MERS 则相反；在恢复病例方面，COVID-19 与 MERS 非常相似。但是，COVID-19 危重和死亡患者的数量明显低于 MERS 患者。COVID-19 和 MERS 病例最多的地区是西部地区（分别为 44.05%和 40.8%）。尽管 COVID-19 流行期间死亡率较低，但 MERS 和 COVID-19 对成年人和老年人的生命构成了类似的威胁。应根据其居住地区为 MERS 分配有针对性的预防和干预措施。但是，沙特阿拉伯 COVID-19 的动态和流行病学还需要更多的信息。：MERS：中东呼吸综合征；COVID-19：2019 年冠状病毒病。
