Characteristics, Comorbidities, and Outcomes among Patients admitted with COVID-19 in Sheikh Khalifa Medical City: A Retrospective Study

Abstract Background: Many studies were published to describe the clinical characteristics of COVID-19, however there is still lack of knowledge and it’s time to take stock of the war against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic before we hit another million in a matter of days. Simply Identifying COVID-19 features will help in mapping the disease and guiding pandemic management. A retrospective review, retrospective study was initiated in SKMC to describe the demographic data, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of COVID-19 cases who were hospitalized during that period. Methods: Confirmed positive COVID-19 sample patients from April 1st 2020 to May 31st 2020 in Sheikh Khalifa Medical City. Clinical characteristics, Demographic data, incubation periods, laboratory findings, and patient outcomes data retrieved from 336 cases in the electronic medical chart (SALAMTAK). Results: The median age was 44 years and 83.9% (n = 282) of the patients were men. The patients with diabetes mellitus being the most common risk factor (25.0%), followed by hypertension (22.9%) and Age ≥60 were (13.4%). Total 36 patients (10.7%) were asymptomatic. The most common symptoms were upper respiratory tract symptoms, manifested as dry cough (70.2%), and followed by fever (54.2%), shortness of breath (43.5%), headache (25.9%) and sore throat (25.3%). Less common symptoms were diarrhea (16.7%) chest pain (14.6%). The maximum length of stay is 32 days. The minimum length of stay in [ICU/HDU] was 1 day and the maximum was 21 days. Conclusion: In this retrospective study, fever and cough were common symptoms. Special attention should be given to patients with risk factors especially patients with one risk factor such as diabetic patients, patients with hypertension and older patients over 60 years as they are the most highly prevalent in this case series. Disease was affecting males and D-dimer was significantly elevated in deceased patients.