Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients in Northern Ethiopia: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Haftom Temesgen Abebe; Mengistu Mitiku Ashebir; Mohamedawel Mohamedniguss Ebrahim; Yibrah Berhe Zelelow; Afework Mulugeta Bezabih; Getachew Redae Tefere; Berhane Fseha Teklehaimanot; Solomon Hintsa; Abadi Leul Welderufael

doi:10.2147/IDR.S345936

Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients in Northern Ethiopia: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Infect Drug Resist. 2022 Jul 7:15:3579-3588. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S345936. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Haftom Temesgen Abebe^{1

2}, Mengistu Mitiku Ashebir¹, Mohamedawel Mohamedniguss Ebrahim³, Yibrah Berhe Zelelow³, Afework Mulugeta Bezabih¹, Getachew Redae Tefere¹, Berhane Fseha Teklehaimanot⁴, Solomon Hintsa⁵, Abadi Leul Welderufael³

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
² Laboratory Interdisciplinary Statistical Data Analysis, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
³ School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
⁴ Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Adigrat University, Adigrat, Ethiopia.
⁵ Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Axum University, Axum, Ethiopia.

Abstract

Purpose: 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.

Patients and methods: 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 p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: 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 (p-value <0.001).

Conclusion: 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.

Keywords: COVID-19; comorbidity; mortality rate; symptomatic.