Temesgen Abebe Haftom, Mitiku Ashebir Mengistu, Mohamedniguss Ebrahim Mohamedawel, Berhe Zelelow Yibrah, Mulugeta Bezabih Afework, Redae Tefere Getachew, Fseha Teklehaimanot Berhane, Hintsa Solomon, Leul Welderufael Abadi
School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Laboratory Interdisciplinary Statistical Data Analysis, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Infect Drug Resist. 2022 Jul 7;15:3579-3588. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S345936. eCollection 2022.
COVID-19, caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is an emerging global public health problem. The disease is believed to affect older people and is accompanied by clinical features such as fever, shortness of breath, and coughing. Currently, there is a lack of information regarding the characteristics of COVID-19 patients in Ethiopia. Thus, this paper aims to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical features of COVID-19 patients in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.
A total of 6,637 symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients collected from six isolation and treatment centers in Tigray between May 7 and October 28, 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test was used to compare the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients as appropriate. A -value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
The mean age of the patients was 31.3±12.8. SARS-CoV-2 infects men more than women with a ratio of 1.85:1. About 16% of the patients were symptomatic, of which 13.3% (95% CI=11.3-15.4%) were admitted to intensive care units and 6.1% (95% CI=4.5-7.6%) were non-survivors. The mortality rate was increased up to 40.3% (95% CI=32.1-48.4%) among patients with severe illness. A higher proportion of deaths were observed in men (73.2%) and 55.4% were in the age group of ≥50 years. About 4.3% (282 of 6,637) had one or more coexisting comorbidities; the most common being cardiovascular diseases (30.1%) and diabetes mellitus (23.8%). The comorbidity rate in the non-survivor group was significantly higher than in the survivor group (-value <0.001).
The proportion of symptomatic patients was low. Non-survival was linked with old age and the existence of comorbidities. The findings of this study can help in the design of appropriate management strategies for COVID-19 patients, such as giving due emphasis to COVID-19 patients who are old and with comorbidities.
由严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）引起的新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）是一个新出现的全球公共卫生问题。该疾病被认为对老年人影响较大，并伴有发热、呼吸急促和咳嗽等临床特征。目前，关于埃塞俄比亚COVID-19患者特征的信息匮乏。因此，本文旨在评估埃塞俄比亚北部提格雷地区COVID-19患者的流行病学和临床特征。
对2020年5月7日至10月28日期间从提格雷地区六个隔离和治疗中心收集的6637例有症状和无症状的COVID-19患者进行回顾性分析。根据情况使用卡方检验或Fisher精确检验来比较COVID-19患者的流行病学和临床特征。P值<0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
患者的平均年龄为31.3±12.8岁。SARS-CoV-2感染男性多于女性，比例为1.85:1。约16%的患者有症状，其中13.3%（95%CI = 11.3 - 15.4%）被收入重症监护病房，6.1%（95%CI = 4.5 - 7.6%）死亡。重症患者的死亡率高达40.3%（95%CI = 32.1 - 48.4%）。男性死亡比例较高（73.2%），55.4%的死亡患者年龄在50岁及以上。约4.3%（6637例中的282例）有一项或多项并存的合并症；最常见的是心血管疾病（30.1%）和糖尿病（23.8%）。非存活组的合并症发生率显著高于存活组（P值<0.001）。
有症状患者的比例较低。死亡与高龄和合并症的存在有关。本研究结果有助于为COVID-19患者设计适当的管理策略，例如适当重视老年和有合并症的COVID-19患者。
